PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team moved a step closer to earning a third straight Philadelphia Big 5 title as the Hawks topped Penn, 50-46, Tuesday evening at Hagan Arena.

Getting 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists from senior forward Sarah Fairbanks, the Hawks (3-4) improved to 2-1 in the Big 5 and could earn at least a share of City Series crown with a win at La Salle on February 17.

In typical Big 5 fashion, Tuesday's matchup came down to the final moment. Falling behind by as many as seven in the third quarter, Saint Joseph's battled back and behind four straight points to open the fourth stanza, the Hawks took a 42-41 advantage on a layup by Alyssa Monaghan with 8:32 to play.

The lead would trade four times from there, with Monaghan finishing on a fastbreak to give the Hawks a 46-45 lead with 3:44 to go.

A layup by Amanda Fioravanti pushed to edge to 48-45, but Penn's Michelle Nwokedi knocked down one of two free throws with under a minute to play to bring the Quakers within a possession.

With an eight second difference between shot clock and game clock, Saint Joseph's worked the ball into the hands of senior Ciara Andrews. And for the second time in a week, Andrews delivered as she hit a pull-up jumper with 7.4 seconds to go to push the lead to 50-46.

Penn (5-2, 0-1 Big 5) would miss a last-chance layup as junior Amanda Fioravanti grabbed her 11th rebound to seal the victory.

For the second straight game, Saint Joseph's struggled from the floor. Going 0-for-6 from the field over the opening four minutes, the Hawks quickly fell behind 10-1 as Nwokedi connected on a pair of free throws to give the Quakers their biggest lead of the game.

The Hawks answered back though, closing the quarter on a 16-6 run with Fairbanks putting her team ahead 17-16 off an inside feed from sophomore Chelsea Woods.

Building a three-point lead by halftime, Saint Joseph's saw its lead quickly disappear in the third quarter, as Penn opened the period on a 10-0 run to take a 36-29 lead on a layup by Nwokedi. 

Saint Joseph's, which went 0-for-8 to start the third period, again answered, cutting the deficit to three by the end of the quarter and giving itself momentum heading into the final 10 minutes.

For the game, the Hawks shot 38.3 percent from the field (23-of-60), 21.4 percent from behind the arc (3-of-14) and hit 1-of-2 from the foul line. Saint Joseph's also finished with a 42-25 edged in rebounding, including 16 on the offensive end that lead to 15 second chance points.

At the other end, Penn hit 18-of-50 from the field, 6-of-16 from three-point range and 4-of-7 from the foul line (57.1 percent). Lauren Whitlach had a game-high 12 points to lead the Quakers, while Nwokedi had nine points to go with 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Saint Joseph's returns to action this Sunday when it hosts Drexel at 2 p.m.

Game Notes: The Hawks went 4-0 in the Big 5 in 2013-14 for the outright title and shared last year's title with Villanova and Penn at 3-1...Monaghan and Jordan Strode finished with nine points each...Fioravanti added six points to go with her 11 rebounds..Kathleen Fitzpatrick added seven points and had a team-best two steals...Wodds scored six points and had five rebounds...Andrews finished with two points...Adashia Franklyn added a steal...Jazmin Horne handed out an assist.