PHILADELPHIA – Senior guard
Nailah Delinois dropped a career-high 14 points, freshman guard
Kaliah Henderson went for 13, and graduate student guard
Rachel Gartner broke through with 10, but the Saint Joseph's women's basketball squad dropped an Atlantic 10 match-up to George Washington, 56-50, at Hagan Arena on Wednesday evening. The Hawks now sit at 8-12 overall (2-6 A-10) while the Colonials improve to 9-11 (3-4 A-10).
Trailing by 10 with 2:20 to go in regulation, the Hawks tore off on a 9-1 run, spearheaded by Gartner, to get back to within two points, but time would run out of the Crimson and Gray's furious comeback attempt.
Delinois distributed seven points in each half on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, to go with three rebounds and three steals in a career-high 32 minutes of play. It marked the first double-figure scoring game of the senior's career.
Henderson added her 13 points (6-of-14 FG) and three steals in just 18 minutes off the bench while Gartner made the most of her season-high 17 minutes, hitting for 10 points (4-of-6 FG, 2-of-3 3FG) to go with two boards and an assist.
How It Happened
Q1 – GW opened the game on a 4-0 run, but SJU then scored 12 straight points to take an eight-point advantage into the final 2:04; junior guard
Lula Roig, senior guard
Nailah Delinois, and freshman guard
Kaliah Henderson combined for all 12 of those points with four apiece. The Colonials then hit for a three-pointer (1:53) and a jumper (1:14) and the Hawks went 0-3 from the field in the final 43 seconds as the quarter closed with a three-point edge, 12-9, in favor of the Crimson and Gray.
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Q2 – The Colonials opened the second with a 6-0 run en route to outscoring the Hawks, 15-5, for the quarter. Delinois hit from beyond the arc at the 5:19 mark to snap GW's 11-0 scoring run going back to the 1:53 mark of the first, but George Washington was able to take a seven-point lead, 24-17, into the halftime break. The big stat? 7-of-14 FG shooting for GW (50.0 percent) compared to 2-of-12 FG shooting for SJU (16.7 percent).
Q3 – After GW's Faith Blethen hit a three (9:06) to extend its lead over SJU by 10 points, 27-17, Delinois (8:30) and junior guard
Mary Sheehan (7:55) hit back-to-back threes to close the Hawks' deficit to four, 27-23. From there, the Colonials put up 16 points to the Hawks' 13 to close the quarter up by seven, 43-36.
Q4 – Paced by graduate student guard
Rachel Gartner's eight-point fourth quarter, the Hawks made a run late. With 2:00 remaining in regulation, Gartner hit a jumper in the paint and less than a minute later, Henderson came up with a steal and a brilliant full-court pass to Delinois, who converted a fastbreak lay-up (1:32) to pull SJU to within six, 51-45. Following a 1-of-2 showing from the line for GW, Gartner hit her second three of the quarter (1:03) and, on the very next possession, Henderson stole it away again and hit a lay-up to bring the Hawks to within two, 52-50, with 46 seconds to play. The Hawks were unable to get a stop on GW's next offensive possession as Alexandra Maund, who finished with a game-high 18 points, put away a lay-up and the Hawks went 0-for-2 from the field to close out the game.
Behind the Boxscore
• Senior guard
Nailah Delinois, sophomore guard
Katie Jekot, and freshman forward
Gabby Smalls honored the memory of Kobe Bryant and Gigi Bryant by writing their numbers on their sneakers.
• Freshman forward
Kaliah Henderson has dropped double digits in three of her last four games and is now averaging 12.0 points per game over SJU's last four contests.
• Graduate student guard
Rachel Gartner scored her first points of the season... and kept going, totaling eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter.
• All 11 of SJU's players saw playing time.
Up NextÂ
Saint Joseph's remains host to Dayton (14-7, 7-0 A-10) this Sunday, February 2. Opening tip is set for 2:00 p.m. in Hagan Arena. The Flyers are on a nine-game winning streak entering Sunday's contest.
