RICHMOND, Va. - Rallying back from a 12-point deficit, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball downed Richmond, 85-80, Thursday evening in both teams Atlantic 10 opener at the Robins Center. The Hawks tallied 22 of their 26 second-chance points in the final half as they improve to 11-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Down 49-37 at halftime, the Hawks quickly cut into the Spiders' lead as a three-pointer by Natasha Cloud brought her team within six, 51-45, at 17:28.

Saint Joseph's continued to press the tempo, making it a one-possession game, 53-51, on a three-pointer by Erin Shields at 14:53. The Hawks would score 10 of its 12 points to start the half off second-chance baskets.

Richmond (6-8, 0-1 A-10) would keep Saint Joseph's at a distance though, pushing its lead back to seven, 66-59.

The Hawks would find themselves down 77-70 with 5:48 to go, but would use solid defense and key baskets to cut it to a 77-75 on a free throw by Cloud at 3:31.

Cloud would have a chance to tie the game at the foul line, but a miss,  followed by a Richmond jumper by Liz Brown at the end of the shot clock put the host's lead to 79-75.

Undaunted, Ilze Gotfrida answered back with baseline jumper for the Hawks and a layup by Sarah Fairbanks off a feed from Cloud tied the game with 1:44 to play.

Following a turnover by the Spiders, Fairbanks finished another Cloud pass, giving her team an 81-79 edge at 1:03.

Saint Joseph's defense would cause a missed shot and senior Erin Shields hit a floater down the right wing with the shot clock ending to give the Hawks an 83-79 edge.

Richmond's Geneieve Okoro would hit one of two free throws to bring the Spiders within a possession, but Shields closed the game with a pair of free throws.

In the opening half, Richmond jumped out to a hot start off the tip as it grabbed a 7-0 lead.

Saint Joseph's answered back with a 12-4 run to take a one-point lead on a jumper by Gotfrida at 12:41.

The Hawks would push its lead to five at the midway point of the half, but the Spiders would quickly gain momentum to regain the lead. Down 25-23, Richmond used an 18-7 run to take a 41-32 lead on a layup by Okoro at 2:35.

A three-pointer by Shields would bring the Hawks back two possessions, 43-37, with 1:30 to play in the half, but the Spiders would score six-straight points to close the period and take a 49-37 lead into halftime.

For the game, SJU shot 51.4 percent overall (37-of-72), but hit just 4-of-16 from three-point range and just 7-of-14 from the foul line. The Hawks finished with a 38-30 edge in rebounding, including 17 offensive boards.

Individually, Fairbanks led SJU with 19 points, while Gotfrida posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Cloud led the way with nine assists and scored 18 points, with Shields' 16 points capping four players in double figures.

At the other end, Richmond shot 51.8 percent from the field (29-of-56), 57.1 percent from three-point range (4-of-7) and 85.7 percent from the foul line (18-of-21). Okoro's 19 points led three Spiders in double figures.