Jan. 19, 2012

CINCINATTI, Ohio - Saint Joseph's women's basketball team begins a two-game road swing this Saturday with a televised game at Xavier. The game, set for 1 p.m., will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network.

Saint Joseph's Game Notes

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Game Notes
• The Hawks have won two straight and are coming off a 57-46 overtime win at home against Fordham on Wednesday.
• Saturday's matchup with the Musketeers is the 23rd meeting between the two Jesuit universities. Xavier holds a 13-9 edge in the series and have won eight straight against the Hawks.
• Saint Joseph's is 1-6 against Xavier at the Cintas Center. However, the Hawks are 4-6 all-time at the Cintas Center as they won three-straight games during the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championship, posting wins against Rhode Island, Charlotte and #8/9 George Washington, before losing to Xavier in the title game.
• Saturday's game is a Jesuit Basketball Spotlight contest. The Hawks are 2-0 against fellow Jesuit schools this year having downed Boston College, 74-57, on December 29 and beating Fordham, 57-46, on Wednesday.
• SJU's Cindy Griffin and Xavier's Amy Waugh are the only two head coaches in the Atlantic 10 to coach at their alma mater.
• SJU's defense has held opponents to 40 points per game over the last two contests.

Series History - Saint Joseph's vs. Xavier
All-Time Series: XU Leads 13-9
Last Meeting: 3/5/11, XU, 71-55
Last SJU Win: 3/4/06, 70-67
Last Xavier Win: 3/5/11, 71-55
Current SJU Streak: L-8

BALANCED OFFENSIVE ATTACK
With six players averaging more than seven points per game, Saint Joseph's has put the emphasis on sharing the ball at the offensive end. The Hawks remain the lone team in the Atlantic 10 without a player to score 20 points in a game this season and currenlty have no one ranked in the top-20 of the conference in points per game.

ROAD WORK IMPROVING
Saint Joseph's struggled over its opening five road games, going 1-4 in those contests. In the losses - to Princeton, Vermont, #8 Maryland and Villanova - SJU was outscored on average 76-62. However, things are picking up with wins at Quinnipiac and Massachusetts. The Hawks shot 59-of-116 (50.8 percent) in the two wins, while holding Quinnipiac to a season-low 25 percent and outscoring the Minutewomen 46-22 in the second half.

DEFENSE THE DIFFERENCE
A staple for the Hawks over the years has been their tenacious defense. This season it has continued as Saint Joseph's has held opponents to 240-for-703 from the floor (34.1 percent) in its 12 wins. Additionally, the Hawks held Lehigh, Drexel, Saint Francis (Pa.), Quinnipiac and Penn to under 30 percent shooting, and are coming off their top-two defensive performances of the year, limiting Penn and Fordham to 34 and 46 points, respectively.

HAWKS EXCEL AGAIN IN NONCONFERENCE PLAY
For the second-straight year Saint Joseph's has posted 10 wins during the nonconference portion of the schedule. The Hawks, who went 10-4 in the nonconference the past two seasons, won 17 nonconference games in 1984-85 to set the all-time record. SJU had won 14 nonconference games the previous year, 1983-84.

KUESTER SJU'S ALL-TIME LEADER IN FT PERCENTAGE Senior Katie Kuester is currently SJU's all-time leader in free throw percentage. Knocking down 122 of 144 shots for 84.7 percent, she has hit 27-of-34 from the foul line (79.4 percent) this year.

THE HAWKS' IRONWOMAN
Senior guard Michelle Baker has been the Hawks' Ironwoman since 2008-09. Beginning as a freshman, Baker has appeared in all 111 games for SJU, while making 60 starts. She is currently averaging 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for her career.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
A mainstay with any Cindy Griffin squad, this year's Hawks are proving to be one of the best teams in the nation in handling the basketball. Currently, Saint Joseph's ranks 17th in the nation in turnovers per game (14.1), and have posted seven games of 11 turnovers or fewer, including a season-low four turnovers at #8 Maryland. Additionally, the Hawks are currently 30th overall in assist-to-trunover ratio at .967 and are the only team in the Atlantic 10 with three players amongnst the league leaders in that category (Erin Shields - 6th; Katie Kuester - 8th; Ashley Prim - 10th).

CAVALLO RANKS AMONG SJU'S ALL-TIME LEADERS
Even with more than 10 games to go, senior forward Kelly Cavallo has already made a big impact on the Saint Joseph's record book. A stellar defender, Cavallo has recorded 104 career blocked shots, good for third in program history, while her 500 career rebounds ranks 17th all-time. Additionally, the Hampton Bays, N.Y. native is only the second Hawk ever to amass 100+ blocks and 500 rebounds, joining current assistant coach Stephanie McCaffrey `04 (nee Graff) who finished with 175 blocks and 788 rebounds.

PRIM HITS HER PRIME
Junior Ashley Prim has become a focal point for the Hawks' offense this season. Relied upon for her passing ability, the SJU point guard has proven to be a key scorer for the Hawks this year. Prim enters Saturday's game averaging a career-best 9.4 points per game and leads the Hawks in assists (53), steals (25) and free throws (56) while averaging just 23.2 minutes per game.

PARKER MAKES MOST OF HER MINUTES
After playing just 38 minutes over 11 games as a rookie, sophomore guard Kasie Parker has made a strong presence off the bench for the Hawks this year. Averaging 10.9 minutes per game through 17 contests, Parker has given SJU a boost off the bench, adding 4.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game so far this year. She has scored in double figures three times this year after not scoring a point as a rookie last season.

KUESTER NINTH ALL-TIME IN THREE POINTERS
Senior Katie Kuester enters Saturday's game eighth all-time in program history for three point field goals. The four-year letterwinner has hit 136 field goals and is eight behind Colleen McGahan (144) for seventh.

SHIELDS AND PRIM POST FORMIDABLE DUO

Having the option of junior Ashley Prim or sophomore Erin Shields run the point is a welcomed opportunity for the Hawks. Combining for 197 of the team's 475 assists last year, the duo were terrific with the ball in 2010-11 posting a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. This season, the pair have accounted for 97 of SJU's 231 assists and are averaging 17.1 points per game together.

WORTH THE WAIT
Having missed the previous two seasons due to injury, redshirt sophomore Ashley Robinson has shown to be a steady force in the paint for SJU. Posting an 18-point, 10 rebound performance in the season opener at Princeton, she ranks third among SJU post players in scoring (5.9 ppg), tied for second overall in blocked shots (11) and third overall in rebounding (4.1 rpg).

KUESTER AND BAKER SERVING AS CAPTAINS IN 2011-12
Seniors Michelle Baker and Katie Kuester are serving as captains for the Hawks during the 2011-12 season. Kuester was a captain a season ago, while Baker is in her first year of captaincy.

THE FAST BREAK
• Current SJU assistant coach Susan Moran `02 became the Hawks' all-time leading scorer with a 24-point performance at Xavier on February 8, 2002. Moran, who passed Dale Hodges `90 mark of 2,077 points that game, finished her career with 2,340 points. • The Hawks turned the ball over just four times at Maryland, marking the team's fewest since SJU had three against La Salle (1/12/07). • With wins over UCLA and Boston College in successive games, the Hawks posted back-to-back victories over BCS opponents for the first time since the start of the 2001-02 season when they topped USC and Rutgers. • Sophomore Ilze Gotfrida (Latvia) and Chatilla van Grinsven (Netherlands) also competed for the national team at this past summer's U-20 FIBA European Championships. • Chatilla van Grinsven, Samira van Grinsven and Mireia Vila are three of just four players to play for SJU with a "V" last name. • John McCray, a 2011 graduate of Ohio State, is in his first year as graduate assistant at Saint Joseph's.