RICHMOND, Va. - Backed by strong defense and an unselfish offensive attack, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team downed George Mason, 89-55, in the Opening Round of the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship Thursday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.

The fifth seeded Hawks will now face fourth seed George Washington at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

Saint Joseph's (22-8) quickly took control of the game as it ran out to a 10-2 lead on a three-pointer by Erin Shields at 14:41.

George Mason (8-23) would cut the deficit to three, but the Hawks pushed back with a 7-0 run to open a 17-7 edge on a jumper by Ilze Gotfrida.

The Hawks would hold the Patriots at a distance from there as SJU held George Mason to just 26.5 percent from the field (9-of-34) in the half as it took a 38-25 lead into the second period.

Saint Joseph's continued to push the tempo in the second, not allowing the Patriots to counter as they were outscored 51-30 as 12 Hawks tallied a basket.

For the game, Saint Joseph's shot 50 percent overall (28-of-56), hit 6-of-11 from three-point range (54.5 percent) and 27-of-33 from the foul line (81.8 percent). The Hawks, who finished with 18 assists, got 42 points from their bench and turned 15 offensive rebounds in 18 points.

Individually, senior Kelsey Berger scored 15 points to set a new career-high in a SJU jersey. She was joined in double figures by Gotfrida (14 points), Ashley Robinson (13 points), Ciara Andrews (12 points) and Sarah Fairbanks (12 points).

Shields, who matched the SJU program record playing in her 127th game, finished with six points and six assists, while Natasha Cloud added a game-high nine rebounds to go with four points and five assists.

At the other end, George Mason was held to just 27.4 percent shooting (17-of-62) and 23.5 percent from three-point range (23.5 percent). Janaa Pickard and Taylor Brown each had 15 points for the Patriots.

Game Notes: Freshman Lisanne de Jonge matched her career-high with six points...Classmate Geena Gomez finished with three points and an assist...Rookie Jessica Pongonis added two points an assist and a steal...Freshman Kathleen Fitzpatrick added two points...Freshman Mackenzie Rule added a defensive rebound...Saint Joseph's finished with a 46-33 edge in rebounding.