PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team fell to Big 5 rival Temple, 86-70, Friday evening at Hagan Arena in a season-opening matchup. Sophomore guard Alyssa Monaghan led four Hawks in double figures with 15 points.

The Hawks (0-1) jumped out to an early lead as newcomer Jaryn Garner opened the scoring and senior classmate Amanda Fioravanti converted a three-point play to make it 5-2 in favor of the hosts.

Temple (1-0) answered as the veteran squad put together a 17-4 run over a five minutes span to take a 19-9 advantage on a steal and layup by Feyonda Fitzgerald with 2:43 to go in the quarter.

Behind gritty play at both ends of the court, Saint Joseph's cut the Owls lead to 25-20 early in the second quarter on pair of free throws from junior Adashia Franklyn.

Using a 10-2 run, Temple countered to open a 35-22 lead and eventually pushed its lead to 50-35 at halftime.

Saint Joseph's would get no closer in the second half, despite outscoring the Owls 21-15 in the fourth quarter and holding them to just 3-of-15 shooting in the period.

As a team, the Hawks shot 38.3 percent from the field (23-of-60), 30.8 percent from three-point range (4-of-13) and converted 20-of-25 from the foul line. 

Monaghan, who added two assists and two steals, finished 5-of-7 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc and went 3-of-4 from the foul line. Fioravanti finished with 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots, while Franklyn added 10 points and four rebounds. Junior guard/forward Chelsea Woods was the fourth Hawk in double figures as she posted 11 points to go with a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.

At the other end, Tanaya Atkinson led the Owls with a game-high 24 points as Temple finished the game shooting 45.9 percent from the field (28-of-61), including 5-of-10 from three-point range.

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

GAME NOTES: Sophomore Kristalyn Baisden finished with a career-best seven points in her first career start...Garner Scored four points and had two assists...Sophomore Sarah Veilleux added five points...Sophomore Michala Clay scored four points and had an assist...Senior Mackenzie Rule finished with two assists and a rebound...Senior Jazmin Horne finished with a rebound...SJU got 24 bench points and scored 24 points in the paint.

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