Feb. 9, 2011

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - Saint Joseph's women's basketball team held Fordham to just 28.1 percent from the floor and the Hawks hit 9-of-12 from the foul line in the final two minutes to preserve a 54-47 win Wednesday evening at Rose Hill Gym.

Leading 42-28 with five minutes to go, Saint Joseph's saw its lead cut to four, 44-40, with 1:08 to go. The Hawks though never truly allowed Fordham to gain control as they continually knocked down free throws. The Rams cut the deficit to four three times, but an offensive rebound and pair of free throws by junior forward Kelly Cavallo with 14.8 seconds to go iced the game.

Saint Joseph's (14-9, 4-5 Atlantic 10) jumped out to 5-0 edge to start the game and led 12-7 with 15:44 to go in the half, but Fordham fought back, to take its first lead at 11:13. The Rams used a 9-0 run to overcome the five-point deficit and take a 16-12 advantage on a layup by Tiffany Stokes at 10:18.

Freshman forward Ilze Gotfrida came off the bench to score six-straight points for the Hawks and give her team an 18-16 lead.

The Rams (10-15, 2-7 A-10) answered back with a Stokes layup at 7:53, but both teams would struggle on offense from there. Fordham went 0-of-9 from the field, 0-of-2 from the foul line and committed five turnovers over the remainder of the half, junior guard Katie Kuester ended a six-minute scoring drought for SJU. Senior forward Dominique Bryant added a three pointer with 30 seconds to go in the half to give Saint Joseph's a 24-18 edge heading into the second half.

Individually, Kuester paced the Hawks with 13 points and added four assists, while Cavallo grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, matched her career-high with five blocks and scored 10 points. Sophomore guard Ashley Prim went 6-of-7 from the line and finished with 10 points as the Hawks shot 37.5 percent from the floor (18-of-48), 29.4 percent from three-point range (5-of-17) and 72.2 percent from the foul line (13-of-18).

At the other end Kyara Weekes led Fordham with 12 points as the Rams hit just 16-of-57 from the floor but finished ahead in rebounding, 38-37.

The Hawks return home to host Richmond this Saturday at 2 p.m.