Jan. 22, 2011

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team snapped its three-game losing skid as the Hawks fought back to top Massachusetts, 72-68, Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena. Saint Joseph's junior Michelle Baker scored a team-high 21 points and classmate Kelly Cavallo posted 16 points and 14 rebounds for her second-straight double-double.

The Minutewomen (6-14, 2-3 Atlantic 10) took control of the game early and held a lead for nearly 20 minutes before the Hawks clawed back in the final 10 minutes of the second half. Down by as many as 13, Saint Jospeh's used an 8-0 run midway through the second half and took its first lead since the early moments of the game, 58-56, on a Baker jump shot with 6:42 to go in the contest.

Both teams exchanged the lead over the next five minutes as Massachusetts clung to a 68-67 lead with 1:33 to go. Up one, the Minutewomen missed a layup but grabbed an offensive rebound to reset the shot clock with under a minute to go. However, on the reset, Massachusetts' Dee Montgomery tried to throw a skip pass from the right wing to the left wing, but failed to connect, giving the ball back to SJU.

On the ensuing possession, the Hawks worked the ball into the low right post, finding junior forward Samira Van Grinsven for a short jumper in the paint to put her team ahead 69-68 with 45 seconds left.

Shakia Robinson, who scored a game-high 25 points for Massachusetts, missed a short jumper with under 20 seconds to go, and the Hawks grabbed the rebound and went on to hit 3-of-4 from the foul line to ice the game and improve to 12-7 overall and 2-3 in the Atlantic 10.

In the first half, Massachusetts jumped out to a 25-12 lead as it hit 17-of-29 from the floor (58.6 percent) and 7-of-9 from three-point range in the opening stanza. The Minutewomen saw their lead cut 29-24 on a layup by Cavallo at 5:44, but went on to outscore the Hawks 16-14 to take a 45-38 advantage into the second half.

For the game, the Hawks shot 42.6 percent from the floor (29-of-68), 26.3 percent from behind the arc (5-of-19) and 47.4 percent from the line (9-of-19). Freshman guard Erin Shields was the third Hawk in double figures, scoring 12 points and handing out a game-high seven assists.

Massachusetts finished the game 25-of-54 from the floor (46.3 percent), 8-of-15 from behind the arc (53.3 percent) and 10-of-15 from the line.

Saint Joseph's remains at home as the Hawks host St. Bonaventure on Wednesday at 7 p.m.