DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team held off a late rally by Davidson to pick up a 57-52 victory Saturday at Belk Arena. With the win, the Hawks improved to 7-13 overall and 3-5 in the Atlantic 10.
Despite leading by as many as 19 in the second half, Saint Joseph's absorbed a final run by the Wildcats, but never allowed them to tie the game.
Up 53-38 with under five minutes to play, the Hawks had their lead cut to two, 53-51, as the Wildcats mounted a 13-0 run in just over two minutes, capped by a jumper by Hannah Early at 2:27.
Saint Joseph's responded though in its next possession as graduate student Ashley Robinson scored in the paint off a pass from senior Natasha Cloud to make it 55-51 with 2:02 to play.
The Hawks would get key stops from there as Cloud sealed it from the foul line with two free throws.
After a back-and-forth start to the first half, Saint Joseph's pulled away in the final minutes.
Tied at 18-18 with seven minutes to go in the first half, the Hawks pulled away from the Wildcats with a 15-2 run that gave SJU a 33-20 lead at halftime. Playing tenacious defense, Saint Joseph's held Davidson to 1-of-10 shooting and caused three turnovers during that stretch and limited the Wildcats to just 29.6 percent shooting for the half (8-of-27). At the other end, the Hawks hit seven of their final 12 shots as a layup by junior Sarah Fairbanks with 10 seconds to go gave her team its biggest lead of the half.
Saint Joseph's would push its lead to as many as 19 points on a layup by freshman Adashia Franklyn at 11:10 before the final frantic moments.
As a team, Saint Joseph's shot 42.6 percent from the floor (26-of-61), but hit just 1-of-9 from behind the arc and 4-of-13 from the foul line (30.8 percent). Earning their first road win of the season, the Hawks outscored Davidson 38-18 in the paint.
Individually, Fairbanks had a team-best 12 points and moved into 10th place all-time in program history for blocked shots as she collected her 77th and 78th career blocks. Sophomore Kathleen Fitzpatrick added 11 points and three steals, whil Robinson finished with 10 points, six rebounds and two assists. Cloud had a game-high nine assists to go with eight points and four rebounds.
At the other end, the Wildcats (5-17, 1-8 A-10) shot 35.7 percent overall (20-of-56), 31.3 percent from behind the arc (5-of-16) and hit 7-of-10 from the foul line. Falling to 5-17 overall and 1-8 in the A-10, the Wildcats got a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds from Mackenzie Latt.
Saint Joseph's returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts La Salle at 7 p.m. The Hawks could earn a share of the Philadelphia Big 5 title with a victory on Wednesday.
Game Notes: Ciara Andrews finished with nine points, two assists, six rebounds and two steals...Adashia Franklyn had a team-high eight rebounds and had four points, a block and a steal...Jordan Strode scored two points, had three rebounds, an assist and a steal...Chelsea Woods had three rebounds and a point...Mackenzie Rule grabbed a rebounds...Candace Belvedere added a steal...Saint Joseph's is now 2-0 all-time versus Davidson...Today's win snapped an 11-game road losing streak dating back to last season by SJU...It was the longest streak in program history.
