PHILADELPHIA – Led by freshman forward Gabby Smalls' team-high 10 points and game-high nine rebounds, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball squad closed the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 49-40 win over Navy at Hagan Arena on Monday evening. With the win, the Hawks close the first half of their season at .500 (6-6) while the Midshipmen fall to 5-6.

Smalls hit her 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field to go along with three offensive boards and six defensive boards in 21 minutes of play while freshman Claire Melia and junior guard Mary Sheehan chipped in nine points apiece and junior guard Lula Roig and sophomore forward Katie Mayock went for eight points and six rebounds each.

How It Happened
• Q1 - Saint Joseph's used back-to-back lay-ups from Sheehan (9:29) and Roig (8:18) to jump out to an early 4-0 lead before falling behind, 8-7, at the 4:33 mark for its only deficit of the game. On the back end of a beautiful passing sequence initiated by Sheehan and run through sophomore guard Devyne Newman at the top of the key, Smalls hit a lay-up 37 seconds later to put the Hawks back ahead and closed out SJU's 5-0 run with a quick move to her left and a right-handed, lay-up finish with 59 seconds to go as SJU took a 12-8 edge by the end of the first quarter. The Hawks held the Mids to 18.8% shooting from the field (3-of-16) for the opening 10:00.

• Q2 - Navy opened the second quarter with a jumper (8:29) to pull to within two, but SJU went on a 7-0 run with lay-ups from Smalls (6:34) and Mayock (3:56) and a Melia three-pointer sandwiched in-between (5:32). The Mids responded with a 9-0 run of their own to tie it up, 19 all, with 32 seconds before the halftime break, but Smalls came through with the go-ahead lay-up with 18 ticks to go to send the Hawks into the break up by two, 21-19.

• Q3 - Sheehan hit a jumper at the 7:11 mark of the third quarter, and just 17 seconds later, Roig made a key steal and hit a fastbreak jumper in the paint to shift the momentum in favor of the Hawks. A Mayock jumper with 3:49 to go extended SJU's lead by 10, 33-23, and the Hawks would keep the Mids at a distance before Sheehan got her jumper to go as time expired, sending SJU into the fourth quarter with an 11-point advantage, 39-28.

• Q4 - Despite outscoring the Hawks, 12-10, in the fourth quarter, the Mids would be kept away by eight points or more for the remainder of the game. Mayock notched a three-point play at the 7:03 mark to extend SJU's lead by 11, and just near two minutes later, Sheehan hit a three to give SJU its biggest lead of the game, 47-33, at the 5:04 mark en route to the eventual nine-point victory.

Behind the Boxscore
• The Hawks won their first home game of the decade (Fordham, January 9, 2010) and their last home game of the decade (Navy, December 30, 2019).
•  Melia recorded four blocks, her high for the season.

Postgame Thoughts
"I'm very very proud of the way our kids came out and fought today," said head coach Cindy Griffin following the win. "In the first half, we were getting out-rebounded and getting beat on every loose ball, but I thought that the second half was a whole different story. We played a bit more composed, and our defense was tremendous. It has been all year. Our rebounding has been pretty good all year, so I was very happy with the way we came back and ended up out-rebounding Navy, who is a very disciplined and very, very tough team."

"Gabby [Smalls] has been working her tail off in practice. She gives us that burst of energy, and she wants to improve. She plays hungry and is just getting better every day. I'm proud of the way she came out. We needed her today. This was her game, and she just continues to get better and better."

"We play a really tough [non-conference] schedule, just in the Philadelphia schedule alone. . . just playing the teams we play on a yearly basis and going on the road and being in uncomfortable situations. I think we've grown a lot and it gives us an opportunity to get ready for the conference, which is going to be very tough this year. But, I like where we are and I like what we've seen so far. We close this chapter of this book and then we open up another one on January 4, and we're looking forward to it."

Up Next
Saint Joseph's opens the Atlantic 10 portion of the schedule this Saturday, January 4 against Richmond (7-7). Opening tip is set for 2:00 p.m. at Hagan Arena. The Hawks were predicted to finish 10th in the A-10 Preseason Coaches Poll.

Richmond snapped a four-game losing skid with a 77-69 home win over Norfolk State on Monday evening. The Spiders were predicted to finish 11th in the A-10 this year.