PHILADELPHIA – It may not have been pretty, but they all count the same. The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team battled to a 59-54 victory over Yale on Friday night, moving to 2-0 in the early season inside Hagan Arena.
The Bulldogs (0-2) fell in their second-straight matchup against an A-10 foe. The win for the Hawks netted Head Coach Cindy Griffin's 400th career victory as a head coach. Griffin has now compiled 352 wins in charge of Saint Joseph's, recording 48 in three seasons with Loyola (Md.).
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Hawks opened up with an 8-0 run to start the contest, led by a Laura Ziegler triple to start the contest. Mackenzie Smith grabbed her bucket of the game, finishing strong at the rack to cap off an old fashioned three-point play to give the hosts an early lead.
- After Yale slowly built its way into the game, the Hawks found yet another scoring burst to quickly push the lead to double-figures. Talya Brugler dished a neat bounce pass to a cutting Smith, before Olivia Mullins capped off another 8-0 spurt with a drive and difficult finish with the left hand to put Saint Joseph's up 18-6.
- Trailing 20-8 in the closing stages, Yale found the last bucket of the opening quarter to cut the deficit to 10. The Bulldogs would then start the second with 10 straight points before the Hawks were able to cut the bleeding all drawn at 20.
- St. Joe's kept the Bulldogs off the board the last 4:22 of the half, finishing on a 9-0 run to enter into the locker room leading 29-20.
- Yale came out of the locker room outscoring the Hawks 19-10 in the third quarter, erasing the Hawk lead as play headed into the final frame tied at 39.
- Smith found the first three points of the quarter to put the Hawks back up before Katie Jekot weaved her way through Bulldog traffic, attracting defenders before dishing it out to Mullins for a triple to reestablish a two possession lead.
- Yale once again closed the margin to a basket, but Julia Nyström found a rhythm and knocked down six of the next eight points for SJU with a pair of threes, St. Joe's leading 53-45 with just over three minutes remaining.
- From there, the Hawks were able to keep the score at more than one possession, grinding out a 59-54 victory inside of Hagan Arena.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Brugler paved the way for the Hawks, chipping in a team-high 16 points while recording five rebounds and three steals. Smith (12), Jekot (11) and Mullins (10) all finished in double-digits.
- Ziegler had a team-high eight reobunds, Jekot once again pacing the Hawks with five assists.
- The Hawks were dominated on the glass, outrebounded 47-29 by the Bulldogs. Yale had 25 offensive rebounds, netting a 23-7 advantage in second chance points.
- Saint Joseph's held the lead for 38:03 of the contest, never trailing throughout the game.
- SJU shot 18-43 (41.9%) on the night, 5-15 (33.3%) from behind the arc.
- Yale finished 22-71 (31.0%) from the floor, the Hawk defense suffocating the Bulldogs to just 2-19 (10.5%) from three.
UP NEXT
- The Hawks return to Hagan Arena for the third and final game of the initial home stretch to start the season, facing the first Big 5 foe of the season as they welcome Penn on Tuesday, November 15. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
