AUBURN, Ala. – Trailing 64-58 with 1:16 remaining in regulation, Saint Joseph's sophomore guard Katie Jekot hit four free throws (1:12, :48) and, following a critical defensive board secured by sophomore guard Devyne Newman, SJU had possession out of a timeout with 25 seconds to play. However, SJU would go on to turn the ball over on a traveling violation, and Auburn's Unique Thompson hit a pair of free throws with seven ticks remaining to hand the Saint Joseph's women's basketball squad a 66-62, heartbreaking loss at Auburn Arena on Sunday evening. With their third straight loss, the Hawks drop to 2-3 while the Tigers even out at 2-2.

In her first career start, freshman forward Gabby Smalls stole the show with a career- and game-high 19 points (9-of-10 FG) and a team-high eight rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Junior guard Mary Sheehan added a career-high 15 points (6-of-9 FG), with three buckets from beyond the arc, and six rebounds.

How It Happened
• The Hawks trailed 10-6 after the first 4:02 before Sheehan (5:38) and Jekot (4:36) hit back-to-back three pointers to give SJU its first lead of the game, 12-10. After an Auburn lay-up tied it, the Hawks went on a 6-0 run, initiated by back-to-back lay-ups from Jekot (2:18) and Sheehan (1:58) and capped by freshman guard Kaliah Henderson's pair of free throws (1:12), her first career points. SJU would close the first quarter up by five, 18-13.
• Auburn took advantage of three Hawk turnovers within a 48-second span to score the first eight points of the second quarter, jumping ahead, 23-18, by the 8:01 mark. Saint Joseph's chipped away and was able to regain a three-point lead, 29-26, on a 4-0 individual run on free throws (3:25) and a jumper (3:02) by Henderson. Auburn closed out the half on a 6-0 run to take a 32-29 edge into the halftime break.
• Saint Joseph's held Auburn to just 18.8 percent FG shooting and gave up just one three pointer in six attempts in the third quarter. Sheehan's second three pointer of the night followed by a Smalls lay-up put the Hawks up 36-34 at the 7:47 mark of the third, and after multiple lead changes, Henderson hit a jumper (1:19) to tie and Smalls went 1-of-2 from the line with 38 ticks left on the board to send SJU into the final quarter up by one, 46-45.
• The Tigers put away the first four points of the fourth, and Thompson would score six of the game's next eight points to give Auburn a five-point advantage, 55-50, with 7:20 to play. A Sheehan lay-up got the Hawks back to within three, but Auburn scored five of the game's next seven to extend its lead to six, 60-54, with 4:14 remaining in regulation. Rookie forwards Claire Melia (3:51) and Smalls (2:58) inched the Hawks back to within two, 60-58, beginning the run for SJU's just-short comeback.
Postgame Thoughts
"Tonight was a battle between two very young teams that are trying to find themselves at this time of the year," said head coach Cindy Griffin following the game. "Our kids came out fighting, and I thought we handled the pressure pretty well without our point guard. I thought we were right there. A couple calls, a couple things there at the end that were questionable, and it could've gone either way. Moving forward, I feel great. This team has a lot of talent. They have a lot of will. We are better than what our record says, and we are going to continue to get better as the season goes on."