PHILADELPHIA - Backed by a 71.4 percent shooting first half, Drexel downed Saint Joseph's women's basketball team, 76-63, Tuesday evening at the Daskalakis Center.
After a back-and-forth opening 10 minutes, the Dragons pulled away from the Hawks thanks to their hot shooting. Up 21-19, Drexel connected on 10 of its next 12 shots to open a 45-27 advantage on a jumper by Rachel Pearson at 1:22.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick connected on one of her six three pointer to bring the Hawks within 45-30, but Drexel scored four of the next six points to take a 49-32 lead into halftime.
From the field, Drexel hit 20-of-28 from the floor in the first half, including 5-of-9 from three-point range in the stanza, while Saint Joseph's, which hit 11-of-22 from the floor in the half, failed to take care of the ball though as the Dragins scored 16 points off 10 SJU turnovers.
The Hawks (1-3) came out as the aggressor to start the second half, getting a jumper from Ciara Andrews and a three-point play by Ashley Robinson as they cut the defifict to 12, 49-37, less than two minutes in.
Unfortunately that would be as close as Saint Joseph's would get as it.
Individually, Fitzpatrick had a career-best 18 points on 10-of-16 shooting from behind the arc and added five rebounds, a steal and an assist. Robinson was the only other Hawk in double figures, finishing with 16 points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.
As a team, Saint Joseph;s hit 22-of-55 from the field (40 percent), 8-18 from three-point range (44.4 percent) and 11-of-15 (73.3 percent).
At the other end, Sarah Curran had a game-high 25 points as Drexel shot 28-of-57 from the floor (49.1 percent), 7-of-17 from behind the arc (41.2 percent) and 13-of-19 from the foul line (68.4 percent).
The Hawks return to action Saturday at the Seton Hall Thanksgiving Tournament versus St. Francis Brooklyn. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Saint Joseph's outscored Drexel 31-27 in the second half...The Hawks finished with a 34-32 edge in rebounds...Senior Natasha Cloud had a game-high eight assists to go with eight rebounds and six points...Andrews also added six points...Redshirt sophomore Jordan Strode scored five points and had two assists and a rebound...Sophomore Mackenzie Rule played a career-best 15 minutes and added a rebound and an assist...Freshman Sarah Veilleux had five points and four rebounds...Classmate Adashia Franklyn added three points, two rebounds and an assist...Junior Sarah Fairbanks had four points and four rebounds...Jessica Pongonis and Chelsea Woods each played four minutes...The Hawks are now 9-5 all-time versus Drexel.
