PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team continues its fine form to start the season, remaining undefeated after knocking off Big 5 rivals Temple in a 75-66 battle on Wednesday evening inside Hagan Arena.
 
The Hawks (5-0, 2-0 Big 5) have equaled the best start to a season since 2017-18 with the win, remaining undefeated after half of their Big 5 contests. Temple falls to 1-4 on the year, 0-2 in Big 5 matchups after a narrow loss to Villanova last Saturday.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Temple started the game with the hot hand, starting off to a quick 11-6 lead after back-to-back triples from Aleah Nelson. Saint Joseph's warmed its way into the contest, a step back bucket from Olivia Mullins starting a 7-0 spurt, followed by five-straight points from Talya Brugler to take the first lead of the game.
• The Hawks extended the lead to 18-12, Mackenzie Smith knocking down a three before a pair of free throws gave Brugler her ninth points of the contest. Laura Ziegler finished the quarter off with a three-pointer with minimal time remaining, the Hawks taking a 21-16 lead after the first frame.
• Only moments after making her first appearance of the season, Emma Boslet grabbed an offensive rebound and dropped a shot from the elbow to extend the lead to 23-16.
• Foul trouble from Saint Joseph's allowed free points from the line for the Owls, the visitors scoring six straight points from the charity stripe to give the Owls a 29-28 advantage.
• A backdoor cut from Katie Jekot would result in an easy layup to put the Hawks up three, but nine straight points from Temple ended the second quarter, capped off by a Nelson triple at the buzzer to take a 38-32 advantage.
• The Hawks came out of the locker room with a score to settle, making nine of their first 10 attempts from the field, opening on a 15-2 run and grabbing as much as a nine-point advantage at 53-44 after Brugler's 17^th point of the night. SJU would take a 59-51 lead headed into the final frame.
• Mackenzie Smith scored her first basket since the first quarter to start the fourth, quickly extending the lead to double digits. Smith again would call her own number, deflecting a Temple pass on the defensive side of the ball before finishing at the other end of the court to put Saint Joseph's up 65-54 with just under eight minutes remaining. The scoop-and-score would start a 6-2 personal run from Smith.
• Jekot's sixth and final assist of the evening to Julia Nyström put the Hawks up by 14 with 3:28 on the clock, and Saint Joseph's would cruise to a 75-66 win for the fifth-straight victory to start the year.

 
 
GAME NOTES

• The 21 points in the first and 27 points in the third were season-highs for the Hawks, tallying a season-best 75 points of offense. The previous high was 67 against Vanderbilt.
• The six point halftime deficit was the largest margin trailed all season, while entering the locker room without the lead for the first time on the year.
• The 9-12 effort from the field was the highest shooting percentage in a frame on the season. The Hawks finished nearly 50% from the floor, knocking down 28 of their 57 (49.1%) attempts. SJU also finished 6-17 (35.3%) from deep and a staggering 13-14 (92.9%) from the line.
• Brugler posted a game-high 17 points, pitching in four rebounds and four assists.
• Mackenzie Smith added 10 of her 14 points in the final frame, shooting 4-4 from the field in the fourth. Smith added three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
• Laura Ziegler posted a sneakily quiet stat line of 10 points and eight rebounds, once again leading the Hawks on the glass. Ziegler's performance on the defensive end was anything but quiet, seven of her eight boards from defensive grabs while finishing with three steals and five blocks (both career-highs). The five blocks was the most since Amanda Fioravanti also tallied five blocks against George Mason on February 21, 2017.
• In Jekot's 100^th career start for the Hawks, the sixth year guard posted eight points and six assists. Jekot sits 19 points away from career point 1,000 and 27 assists from cracking the program's top ten.
• The Hawks recorded season-bests in assists (20), steals (8) and blocks (7).
• SJU capitalized with a 20-11 advantage in points off turnovers. Despite conceding 16-7 in offensive boards, the Hawks only suffered a 13-10 margin in second chance points. SJU posted a 36-22 margin in points in the paint.
• The win marks the third-straight against the Owls, now 47-37 overall against Temple.

UP NEXT

• The Hawks take another trip south for the second road trip of the season, facing North Florida in the first meeting between the sides on Sunday, November 27. Tip is slated for 12:30 p.m.