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The Hawks return eight letterwinners from a year ago, including two starters in sophomore guard Katie Jekot and sophomore forward Katie Mayock, and add five newcomers to the mix. Head coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 19th season on Hawk Hill, has a young squad this year as nine of her 13 players are among either the freshman or sophomore classes.

Saint Joseph's is 3-1 all-time against American, last facing the Eagles on March 13, 1998. American is coming off of a 63-60 loss at Towson on November 24, where Kaitlyn Marenyi and Morgan Bartner poured in 18 points each, including four three-pointers apiece.

Saint Joseph's is 10-8 all-time against Drexel, but the Hawks have dropped the last three meetings - all on the road. SJU's last win over Drexel came by a final score of 53-46, at home on December 13, 2015. The Hawks haven't fallen to the Dragons in Hagan Arena since December 13, 2009.

This year marks the third time the Hawk Classic is held over the Thanksgiving holiday with the tournament held over the Christmas holiday the first 23 times. Saint Joseph's captured the Hawk Classic title 11 times (1993, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017) and advanced to the championship game in all but one year (2014).

NOTHING SMALL FROM SMALLS
In her first career start at Auburn on November 24, 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. Despite the 66-62 loss, Smalls was a bright spot in the highly-competitive match-up.

Smalls had previously gone off off for a career- and game-high 12 rebounds in a strong defensive effort and added six points in SJU's 55-39, neutral-site loss against Seton Hall at Fordham's Rose Hill Gym on November 17.

DEVYNE DEVINE IN FIRST CAREER START
Sophomore guard Devyne Newman earned her first career start in place of an unavailable Lula Roig on November 20 against Penn and made the most of her opportunity, going for a career-high 12 points on a career-high 5-of-10 shooting from the field in a career-high 37 minutes.

HAWKS OVER THE OWLS
Sophomore guard Katie Jekot hit eight consecutive free throws in the final 1:07 to close out a phenomenal team effort in a 67-63 Big 5 victory over Temple at Hagan Arena on November 11. Freshman forward Claire Melia recorded a team-high 17 points and game-high nine rebounds while junior guards Lula Roig and Mary Sheehan added 13 points apiece. The win marked SJU's first victory over Temple since November 29, 2015 and first home victory over Temple since November 18, 2014.

FRESHMAN FIRE
Claire Melia poured in a game-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor in SJU's season-opening 71-57 road win over Columbia on November 7. The rookie added a game-high four assists to go with three rebounds, two blocks, and one steal. Gabby Smalls added a game-high nine rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench as the rookie pair led the Hawks on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

ATLANTIC 10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Following her 23-point performance against Columbia in her collegiate debut, freshman forward Claire Melia was selected the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week on November 11.

10TH IN THE A-10 PRESEASON POLL
The Hawks were predicted to finish 10th in the Atlantic 10 this year, according to the 2019-20 A-10 Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll conducted by the league's 14 head coaches and announced on October 29.

CAPTAIN MARY
Junior guard Mary Sheehan has been selected team captain for the 2019-20 women's basketball season. A business major out of Drexel Hill, Pa., Sheehan has emerged as a key role player for the Hawks over her first two seasons on Hawk Hill. As a sophomore last season, Sheehan appeared in 30 games, with two starts, and averaged 18.4 minutes and a 32.1 shooting percentage from three-point range.

"Mary will represent our team as team captain this year. She exemplifies what it means to be a great leader with her compelling work ethic, exceptional communication skills, and ability to relate to all people." -Coach Griffin

ALL-DAY KJ
Sophomore guard Katie Jekot will be the Hawks' top scoring option this year as she is the returning leading scorer from last year's squad. Jekot averaged 7.5 points per game in all 31 appearances with 25 starts in 2018-19 and is SJU's returning leader in total steals (36) and three-pointers (42).

MAKING A POINT
Junior Lula Roig will embrace point guard responsibilities as the Hawks' primary ball handler this season and did an outstanding job in SJU's 71-57 road win over Columbia on November 7, pouring in 13 points while running SJU's explosive offense. 

"Lula played fantastic today. She had three really good practices leading up to this game, and she has been really composed at practice and understanding what we want and keeping things more simple. Her speed is tremendous, and she did a really good job of slowing down their transition offense." -Coach Griffin

PAIR OF VETS
Graduate student guard Rachel Gartner and senior guard Nailah Delinois are SJU's veterans on the squad this year. Gartner transferred in for the 2018-19 season after four years at Boston College while Delinois is the Hawks' lone four-year member of the Crimson and Gray.

ALL OF THE LOVIN
Sophomore forward Elizabeth Marsicano goes strictly by 'Lovin' in place of her given name, 'Elizabeth,' so be sure to call her Lovin Marsicano when she hits a shot! The story behind it? When Marsicano was two years old, she ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup... and ended up being allergic. After a trip to the hospital, her mother said, "She just needs a little bit of lovin'" and the rest, as they say, is history!

MELIA LEADS IRELAND TO BRONZE
Freshman forward Claire Melia helped lead the Ireland U-20 National Team to a bronze medal in Division B at the 2019 FIBA U20 Women's European Championships held in Prishtina, Kosovo in mid-August. Melia led the way for Ireland with 16.3 points per game, good for sixth in the tournament, and 12.0 rebounds per game, second among all competitors, as Ireland won three of its four games in the group stages before falling to eventual champion Bulgaria in the semifinals. For her efforts, Melia was named to the All-Star Five at the conclusion of the Championship.

FAB FIVE
Over one-third of SJU's roster (5 of 13) is comprised of freshmen in guards Kaliah Henderson Tampa Fla.) and Lauren Ross (Media, Pa.), guard/forward combo Jaden Walker (New Freedom, Pa.), and forwards Claire Melia (Monasterevin, Ireland) and Gabby Smalls (Pemberton, N.J.).

GRIFFIN INKS NORTH JERSEY PAIR TO NLI
Head coach Cindy Griffin announced the signing of two student-athletes who have inked National Letters of Intent to attend Saint Joseph's in the fall of 2020, it was announced on November 14. North Jersey point guards Emma Boslet (Edison, N.J./Saint Thomas Aquinas High School) and Olivia Mullins (Somerset, N.J./Rutgers Preparatory High School) will arrive on Hawk Hill in time for the 2020-21 season and have received Honorable Mention recognition as a recruiting class according to Blue Star Basketball Report.

CHAMPION CLOUD
Dropping 18 points in the Washington Mystics' 89-78 win over the Connecticut Sun in Game 5 of the 2019 Women's National Basketball Association Finals on October 10, former Saint Joseph's guard Natasha Cloud '15 became a WNBA champion. Cloud, drafted 15th overall by the Mystics in the 2015 WNBA draft, started all nine playoff games at the point and averaged 13.1 points per game, 6.2 assists per game, and 3.4 rebounds per game in a team-leading 34.2 minutes per game during Washington's run to its first WNBA title in franchise history.