PHILADELPHIA - Getting a combined 41 points from junior Ciara Andrews and graduate student Ashley Robinson, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team downed La Salle, 67-55, in both teams regular season finale Sunday at Tom Gola Arena.
The Hawks cap the regular season with a 12-16 overall mark and won their final four games to go 8-8 in the Atlantic 10. They will await word from conference officials later Sunday to know what seed they will have for the A-10 Championships.
After a 24-24 draw in the first half, Saint Joseph's took an early 30-28 edge in the second half, only to have the Explorers' Alicia Cropper knock down a three-pointer to give La Salle a 31-30 edge with 18:18 to play.
From there though the Hawks took control as they put together a 21-1 run over the next eight minutes with a layup by Ashley Robinson putting them up 51-32. Saint Joseph's defense allowed the Explorers to go just 1-of-2 from the foul line, caused five turnovers and held them to 0-for-11 from the field during the stretch, while Robinson and Andrews combined for 14 points for SJU.
La Salle (14-15, 5-10 A-10) fought back though to make it a six-point game, 57-51, with under three minutes to play.
Despite seeing its lead chopped, Saint Joseph's responded with a layup from Robinson to put the Hawks back up 59-51. La Salle got no closer than seven from there as SJU closed out the game going 8-of-10 from the foul line.
For the contest, Saint Joseph's shot 45.8 percent overall (22-of-48), including 10-of-16 from the floor in the second half (62.5 percent). The Hawks hit just 1-of-5 from three-point range, but made up for it at the foul line going 22-of-26 (84.6 percent) with all of them coming in the second half.
Individually, Andrews was 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-6 from the foul line for 21 points, while Robinson matched her career-high of 20 points from earlier this season with a 6-of-12 shooting day, and hit 8-of-9 foul shots to go with seven rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and a steal. Senior Natasha Cloud was the third Hawk in double figures, scroing 13 to go with nine assists and six rebounds.
At the other end, La Salle shot just 35.4 percent overall (23-of-65), hit 2-of-7 from three-point range and 7-of-9 from the foul line. Khristin Lee was the lone Explorer in double figures with 11 points.
