VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team dropped a tight battle in its Big 5 opener at Villanova on Tuesday as the Hawks fell 55-49.
In typical Big 5 style, the game came down to the final few moments with the Hawks making a strong push. Down 50-42 with just over six minutes to play, Saint Joseph's went on a 6-0 run as senior Ciara Andrews scored two of her game-high 18 points to bring her team within three, 50-47.
Villanova (2-1, 1-0 Big 5) answered back though with a layup to make it a two possession game, 52-47.
Saint Joseph's (0-3, 0-1 Big 5) had four opportunities to cut the lead again over the next three minutes though, but couldn't convert. At the other end, the Wildcats' Caroline Coyer's jumper with the shot clock running out with under a minute to go made it a seven-point contest and help seal the game.
In a tight first half, Villanova used a 7-0 span towards the end of the second quarter stretch its lead from 21-20 to 28-20 as Alex Louin capped the run with a jumper with 38 seconds to play.
The Hawks would fall down by as many as 10 in the second half, but behind 12 of Andrews' 18 points fought back to challenge the Wildcats in the final minutes.
For the game, Saint Joseph's shot 37.9 percent from the field (22-of-58) and 5-of-5 from the foul line, but finished 0-for-10 from three-point range.
Senior Sarah Fairbanks had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with nine points for SJU.
For the Wildcats, Coyer finished with 14 points as Villanova finished 23-of-56 from the floor (41.1 percent), but were held to just 5-of-21 from three-point range (23.8 percent) and was 4-of-9 from the foul line.
Saint Joseph's is back in action on Sunday at Temple at 2 p.m.
Game Notes: Chelsea Woods finished with eight points and five rebounds...Alyssa Monaghan finished with six points and six rebounds to go with three assists...Amanda Fioravanti tallied four points and had five rebounds...Jordan Strode and Kathleen Fitzpatrick each tallied two points...Mackenzie Rule played 15 minutes....Adashia Franklyn played two minutes...SJU finished with a 41-31 edge in rebounding.
