PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's senior Erin Shields had a season-best 27 points as the Hawks' women's basketball team avenged an early-season loss to VCU with a 70-51 victory over the Rams Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena.

Trailing by four at halftime, Saint Joseph's (17-5, 6-3 Atlantic 10) dominated the second half as it outscored the Rams 41-18.

The Hawks, who held the Rams to 20.6 percent shooting in the second half (7-of-34), used a 16-3 run to start the final period as a layup by senior Ilze Gotfrida put her team ahead 45-37.

VCU (17-5, 5-4 A-10) would score the next basket to cut the deficit to six, but that is as close as it would get over the remainder of the game. The Hawks held the Rams to just four points over a seven minute span as it opened a 62-43 lead on a layup by redshirt junior Ashley Robinson at 3:40.

Saint Joseph's defense held VCU to 1-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 from the foul line and caused four turnovers during that stretch, and kept the Rams to just 29.2 percent shooting overall (21-of-72) and 16.7 percent from three-point range (3-of-18) for the game.

In a tight first half, VCU opened a 21-27 lead with under six minutes to play, but the Hawks fought back to make it a one-possession game, 31-29, on a Shields three-pointer with 50 seconds. The Rams would tally the final basket to take a 33-29 edge into the second half.

For the game, the Hawks shot 38.3 percent overall (23-of-60), but hit 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the second half and finished 5-of-19 from three-point range (26.3 percent) and 19-of-24 from the foul line (79.2 percent).

Individually, Shields hit 9-of-18 from the floor, 4-of-4 from the foul line and added five assists in 36 minutes of play. Junior Natasha Cloud scored 12 points and had a game-high nine rebounds to go with five assists and three steals, while sophomore Sarah Fairbanks was the third Hawk in double figures as she finished with 13 points.

Robyn Parks led three Rams in double figures with 13 points.

Saint Joseph's returns to action Wednesday at St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The win avenged a 73-69 loss at VCU on January 12...Robinson finished with six points and eight rebounds...Gotfrida came off the bench for six points, four rebounds and dour assists...Sophomore Ciara Andrews tallied six points off the bench...Senior Kelsey Berger had three assists and seven rebounds in a starting effort...Freshmen Lisanne de Jonge, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Geena Gomez and Jessica Pongonis came in in the final moments of the win.