PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore forward Gabby Smalls recorded her second career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and fellow sophomore forward Jaden Walker poured in a career-high 14 points, but the Saint Joseph's women's basketball squad (3-1, 1-1 A-10) ultimately fell to La Salle (4-6, 1-3 A-10) by a final score of 81-66 in Atlantic 10 action at Tom Gola Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Smalls shot 4-of-9 from the field and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in 21 minutes of work and posted a career-high six offensive boards to go with eight defensive boards in her 14/14 double-double.

Walker shot a career-high 6-of-9 from the field and added six rebounds, a career-high four assists, and a career-high three blocks in a career-high 35 minutes as the sophomore led the squad in minutes played.

For the third consecutive game, junior guard Katie Jekot dished out six assists; the captain also chipped in seven points.

How It Happened
Q1 - Trailing 18-13 late in the first quarter, sophomore forward Jaden Walker scored on a driving lay-up to keep the Hawks within three, 18-15, with 2:18 to play. However, La Salle closed the opening quarter with four straight points to hold a seven-point edge, 22-15. Sophomore forward Gabby Smalls led the way for the Hawks in the opening 10:00 with five points and four rebounds, but the Hawks shot just 35.0 percent from the field (7-of-20) compared to the Explorers' 61.5 percent (8-of-13).

Q2 - La Salle shot 80.0 percent (4-of-5) from deep and held the Hawks to just 16.7 percent (1-of-6) from beyond the arc to extend their lead by 12 points, 40-28, by the halftime break. With SJU trailing 24-15 at the 9:13 mark, sophomore guard Kaliah Henderson (8:47) and Walker (8:10) put together back-to-back driving lay-ups to close the Hawks' deficit to five points, 24-19, but La Salle tore off on an 8-0 run to take a 13-point advantage, 32-19, by the 6:58 mark and would hold at the very least a nine-point lead for the remainder of the quarter.

Q3 & Q4 - The Explorers outscored the Hawks 27-13 in the third quarter as the Hawks shot just 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from the field, including 20.0 percent (1-of-5) from deep. Saint Joseph's would use a 10-0 run midway through the fourth on freshman guard Emma Boslet's first career points (3FG, 7:06), a Walker jump shot (6:16), a pair of Smalls free throws followed immediately by a steal and lay-up by junior guard Katie Jekot, and yet another Smalls free throw to close its deficit to 17 points, 72-55, with 4:12 to play. However, the Hawks wouldn't get to within more than 15 points for the remainder of the game.

Beyond the Box Score
• The Hawks were without graduate student guard Alayna Gribble for the second straight game; Gribble entered the weekend as SJU's leading scorer (16.0 ppg).