PHILADELPHIA - Behind a strong second half push the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team earned its third straight win as the Hawks downed Richmond, 64-53, Wednesday evening at Hagan Arena.

Led by Chelsea Woods' 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and Kathleen Fitzpatrick's team-best 14 points, Saint Joseph's turned an early second half deficit around as it outscored Richmond 40-25 over the final 20 minutes as it shot 63.6 percent (14-of-22) from the floor.

Down by eight early in the third quarter, Saint Joseph's (9-7, 3-1 Atlantic 10) stormed back to take its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Jordan Strode at 3:08. The Hawks used a 10-2 run to go from down 34-28 to up 38-36 as their defense held the Spiders to 1-of-5 from the field caused a pair of turnovers during that span.

Richmond (8-9, 1-3 A-10) responded to tie it, but the Hawks answered with a 9-2 run that spanned into the fourth quarter as a jumper by Fitzpatrick pushed the lead to 47-40 with 8:56 to play.

The Spiders' Janelle Hubbard scored seven of her game-high 25 points over the next two minutes to bring her team within two, 49-47, but Saint Joseph's scored seven straight as an offensive rebound and put back by Woods extended the lead to 56-47.

The Hawks' defense would hold the Spiders at a distance from there, allowing Richmond to get no closer than seven in the final minutes.

For the game, the Hawks shot 47.8 percent overall (22-of-46), hit 3-of-9 from three-point range and connected on 65.4 percent of their free throws (17-of-26). Saint Joseph's finished with a 35-28 edge in rebounding and got 24 points from its bench, led by Woods' 12 points.

At the other end, Richmond shot 36.7 percent overall (22-of-60), went 4-of-10 from behind the arc and hit 5-of-7 from the foul line (71.4 percent).

The two teams will meet again this season when the Hawks travel to Richmond to close out the regular season on February 28.

Saint Joseph's returns to action on Sunday at Fordham at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.

Game Notes: The Hawks improved to 12-5 all-time versus the Spiders...SJU shot just 8-of-24 in the first half, while Richmond hit 11-of-31...Seniors Ciara Andrews and Sarah Fairbanks finished with eight points apiece...Sophomore Adashia Franklyn had a game-high three blocks to go with six points and five rebounds...Junior Amanda Fioravanti added eight points...Senior Jordan Strode and freshman Alyssa Monaghan had four poaints apiece...Junior Jazmin Horne had an assist and a rebound...Redshirt freshman Sarah Veilleux grabbed three rebounds.