RICHMOND, Va. – Paced by sophomore guard Kaliah Henderson's first career 20-point game and sparked by junior guard Katie Jekot's three-pointer from the logo to force overtime, the Hawks battled the Minutewomen down to the wire, but the Saint Joseph's women's basketball squad ultimately fell to UMass, 79-69, in the Atlantic 10 Championship Second Round at VCU's Siegel Center on Thursday evening. With the loss, the Hawks close their season 7-10 overall (5-9 A-10).

Henderson dropped 12 first-half points with eight in the opening 10:00 and a consistent four across the second, third, and fourth quarters. The sophomore guard also added a season-high 10 rebounds for her first career double-double.

Jekot added 13 points, with 11 coming in the second half, and a team-high five assists while graduate student guard Alayna Gribble (12 points) and graduate student forward Alexis Santarelli (11 points) added double-digit scoring performances. Sophomore forward Gabby Smalls added nine rebounds.

UMass used an 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take a five-point advantage, 64-59, into the final minute of regulation, but Jekot hit a driving lay-up in the paint and Smalls grabbed a defensive board and got the ball down the court to Gribble, who converted a lay-up off the fast break to close the Hawks to within one, 64-63, with 10 seconds to go.

Destiney Philoxey converted a pair of free throws to put UMass back up by three, 66-63, with eight seconds remaining, to set up Jekot's last-second heroics; the junior captain inbounded the ball to Smalls, who got it right back to Jekot. With defenders on her, Jekot drained the game-tying three deep from the A-10 Championship logo with one second remaining to force overtime.

However, UMass would outscore Saint Joseph's 13-3 in the overtime frame, shooting 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from the field with five points from the stripe compared to the Hawks' 16.7 percent (1-of-6) with zero trips to the free throw line. The Minutewomen took advantage of five SJU turnovers during those five bonus minutes, scoring five points from them.

The Hawks and Minutewomen were tied, 17-17, at the end of the first quarter before SJU held UMass to 18.2 percent shooting (2-of-11) from the field in the second quarter to take a 30-24 lead into the halftime break.

UMass used a 7-0 run to outscore SJU by 10 points, 25-15, in the third to take a four-point edge, 49-45, into a fourth quarter that saw four lead changes and three ties leading into the final 1:00 of regulation.