PHILADELPHIA - Backed by a combined 56 points from senior Erin Shields, and juniors Natasha Cloud and Ashley Robinson, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team topped La Salle, 76-63, Wednesday evening at Hagan Arena.
Leading by 11 early into the second half, the Hawks (18-6, 7-4 Atlantic 10) saw their lead cut to just four, 51-47, with 11:55 to play. From there, Saint Joseph's broke the game open using a 17-5 run to take a 68-52 lead on a layup by Cloud at 4:18. Cloud, Robinson and Shields totalled 15 of the Hawks points during their run, while the defense held La Salle to just 2-of-7 from the field and caused four turnovers.
La Salle (12-12, 7-5 A-10) would get no closer than 11 points as Saint Joseph's picked up its second win over the Explorers this season.
The Explorers jumped out of the gates to a 4-0 lead in the first half, but the Hawks quickly countered to take a 13-8 advantage on a pair of Robinson free throws at 13:48.
A 5-0 run by La Salle tied the game up, but Saint Joseph's went on a 15-6 run as a layup by Ilze Gotfrida put SJU up nine at 6:55. The Hawks would push its lead to 10 by halftime, 42-32, as they shot 50 percent from the floor (15-of-30).
As a team, the Hawks shot 46.7 percent overall (28-of-60), including 4-of-8 from three-point range, and 84.2 percent from the foul line (16-of-19). Shields led all scorers with 22 points, while Robinson added 17 points and eight rebounds and Cloud finished with 17 points and seven assists.
At the other end, La Salle shot 44.1 percent overall (26-of-59), 35.7 percent from behind the arc (5-of-14), but hit just 6-of-13 from the foul line (46.2 percent). Alicia Cropper led three Explorers in double figures with 20 points.
Saint Joseph's returns to action Saturday at George Mason at 1 p.m.
Game Notes: The Hawks previously topped La Salle 64-52 on January 19 of this year...Gotfrida had a career-high five assists to go with six points and five rebounds...Sophomore Ciara Andrews tallied six points and had four rebounds...Senior Kelsey Berger scored four points and had an assist...Freshman Jessica Pongonis finished with two points and two rebounds...rookie Lisanne de Jonge scored two points.
