PHILADELPHIA - Fighting back from a first half deficit for the second straight game, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team couldn't complete the comeback as the Hawks fell to Saint Louis, 77-66, Wednesday evening at Hagan Arena.

After an even first period that saw SJU and the Billikens tied at 23, Saint Louis quickly took control to start the second quarter. Behind a 10-2 run, Saint Louis (15-4, 5-1 Atlantic 10) built up a 33-25 lead as Jackie Kemph score two of her game-high 24 points.

Saint Louis, which would open up a 15-point advantage in the third quarter, slowly saw the gap tighten as Saint Joseph's slowly began to chipped away at it.

Down by 13 with 4:49 to go in the fourth quarter, the Hawks (9-9, 3-3 A-10) used a 7-0 run to make it a 70-64 contest on a layup by Chelsea Woods with 2:45 to play.

That would be as close as Saint Joseph's would get though as the Billikens went 5-of-8 from the line and got a key layup to seal the win in the final minutes.

For the game, Saint Joseph's went 23-of-66 from the floor (34.8 percent) and 19-of-20 from the foul line, but shot just 1-of-10 from three-point range. Woods matched her career-high with 20 points and added nine rebounds, while classmate Adashia Franklyn finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots. Junior Amanda Fioravanti added 12 points, while senior Sarah Fairbanks led the team with a career-best eight assists and added nine rebounds and eight points.

At the other end, Saint Louis went 25-of-52 overall (48.1 percent), 4-of-13 from behind the arc (30.8 percent) and 23-of-34 from the foul line (67.6 percent).

Saint Joseph's returns to action Sunday when it hosts Dayton at noon. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.