PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's sophomore guard/forward Chelsea Woods scored 15 of her career-high 21 points in the second half to help lift the Hawks to a 64-55 victory over La Salle on Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena.
Down 41-28 midway through the third quarter, Saint Joseph's (10-11, 4-5 Atlantic 10) finished the period strong as it outscored the Explorers 18-3 over the final 6:09 to take a 46-44 advantage into the fourth quarter. Woods scored nine of the Hawks points during the run, while senior Ciara Andrews gave her team its first lead since the opening minutes of the game with a pair of free throws to close out the period.
La Salle (3-18, 0-8 A-10) would fight back to regain the lead, 49-48, on a three-pointer by Micahya Owens.
That lead was short lived though as SJU junior Amanda Fioravanti answered back with a layup to make it 50-49 with 7:42 to play.
Both team failed to score over the next three minutes as the Hawks turned the ball over three times and went 0-for-2 from the field, while La Salle shot 0-for-5 and turned it over once.
Fioravanti finally broke the scoreless slump with a layup at 4:39 that helped spark SJU to a 6-0 run as Woods extended the lead to 56-49 on a layup with 3:27 to play.
The Explorers would get no closer than five from there.
For the fifth straight game Saint Joseph's struggled in the first half as it shot hit just 6-of-24 from the field, while La Salle hit 17-of-35 (48.6 percent) to take a 37-24 lead into the second half.
As a team, the Hawks shot 35.1 percent overall (20-of-57), 16.7 percent from three-point range (1-of-6), but knocked down 23-of-29 free throws (79.3 percent).
Woods, who tallied 20 points three times this season, finished 7-of-11 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the foul line for 21 points and added four rebounds and three steals with Fioravanti posting her second double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Andrews added 12 points, while classmate Sarah Fairbanks had a team-best four assists to go with 10 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
At the other end, Amy Griffin led three Explorers in double digits with a game-high 23 points. La Salle shot 39.1 percent from the floor (25-of-64), hit 3-of-9 from behind the arc and went 2-of-4 from the foul line.
Saint Joseph's returns to action next Sunday, February 7, at George Mason. Game time is set for 2 p.m. and will be televised on the American Sports Network.
