PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's senior forward Sarah Fairbanks matched her career-high with 23 points and added nine rebounds to help lead the Hawks' women's basketball team past Drexel, 53-46, Sunday afternoon at Hagan Arena.

In a tight contest that saw neither team lead by more than eight, Saint Joseph's was able to covert big shots in the final quarter to hold on and improve to 4-4 overall behind its second straight win.

Ahead by eight early into the fourth quarter, the Hawks saw their advantage cut to two, 41-39, on a layup by Drexel's Rachel Pearson at 6:42.

Seeing action for the first time in more than a year, redshirt freshman Sarah Veilleux followed a minute later with a layup to help start a 6-1 run that lifted Saint Joseph's to a 47-40 lead with 4:15 to go.

The Dragons (3-5) would make it a four-point game twice from there, but the Hawks sealed it from the foul line as Fairbanks, Veilleux and freshman Alyssa Monaghan combined for four points of the game at the charity stripe in the final 65 seconds.

For the game, Saint Joseph's shot 38.3 percent from the floor (18-of-47) and 68 percent from the foul (17-of-25). The Hawks failed to knock down a three-pointer for the second time this season, going 0-of-9, but got 22 points from its bench as sophomore Adashia Franklyn added eight points, while junior Amanda Fioravanti finished with seven points. Veilleux chipped in with five points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots and Monaghan had a game-high four assists to go with seven rebounds and a point.

At the other end, Drexel was held to just 17-of-60 from the field (28.3 percent), 5-of-18 from three-point range (27.8 percent) and hit 7-of-14 from the foul line. Pearson had a team-high 20 points to lead all Dragons.

Saint Joseph's returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Iona at 11:30 a.m.