PHILADELPHIA  – The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team shook off a slow start to roll past Saint Louis in a 71-47 win inside Hagan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Hawks move 13-3 on the season, including a 3-0 mark in the Atlantic 10. Saint Louis falls to 5-13, 1-2 in conference play. The 3-0 start is the sixth time under Cindy Griffin that the Hawks are unbeaten after three games, the first since 2015-16.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Fresh off an exhilarating win over VCU in overtime the last time out, Saint Louis started strong with the opening four points in the contest before Laura Ziegler's first triple of the afternoon with 7:31 cut the lead.
• Mia Nicastro answered with a three of her own, scoring seven of the first nine for the Billikens to give the visitors a 9-6 lead. Katie Jekot's first basket of the day, followed by a perfectly placed dime to Talya Brugler gave the Hawks their first lead at 11-10.
• After a made basket on the other end, the Crimson and Gray scored nine-straight points, four different Hawks grabbing a basket to give St. Joe's its largest lead to that point.
• The Billikens clawed back to trailing by two at 21-19, but the Hawks used a 15-2 advantage to end the first half to establish a 36-21 advantage. Olivia Mullins and Ziegler combined for 11 of the 15 points over the 5:45 span, the Hawks shooting 66.7% from the field to close out the half.
• After the Billikens got things started in the second half with a triple in the opening minute, the Hawks made the next four shots, capped by another three-pointer from Ziegler to close out an 11-0 run to push the lead to 23 points (47-24).
• St. Joe's used another 7-0 spurt to close out the third quarter, neither team scoring over the next minute and a half to give SJU a 58-33 advantage headed into the final frame.
• Julia Nyström and Emma Boslet started the fourth with back-to-back triples to extend the run to 13-0 before a pair of Saint Louis free throws broke the five-minute scoring duct.
• The Hawks were able to put the game in cruise control over the final six minutes, highlighted by a smooth elbow jumper by Emirson Devenie for her first bucket since returning to the court after the freshman scored eight points in 10 minutes against North Florida.
• Saint Joseph's grabbed the third-straight victory to start the A-10 campaign, opening the home slate in conference with a 71-47 win on Saturday afternoon.

 
GAME NOTES

• Saint Joseph's breaks a five-game losing streak and six-game home losing streak to the Billikens, grabbing its first win at home since 2012. SJU is now 15-7 in conference home-openers under Cindy Griffin.
• The Hawks stifled the Billikens defensively, holding SLU to just 15-67 (22.4%) from the field. Saint Louis' best quarter from the field saw the visitors shoot just 29.4% in the opening quarter. After scoring 40 points against VCU in her last game, Kyla McMakin was held to just 1-14 from the field for five points.
• SJU held the visitors to their worst shooting performance of the season, the worst FG% for the Billikens since November 12, 2010 when they shot just 20.8% against Wisconsin. The Hawks have limited an opponent to under 25% shooting for the seventh time since 2010, last happening in the February 20, 2022 win over George Washington (20.2%).
• The 47 points are fewest by a Hawk opponent all season, while the 71 points is the fifth time SJU eclipsed the 70+ mark.
• St. Joe's finished 27-62 (43.5%) from the field, now 10-1 on the year when shooting above 40% from the field. 
• After her second collegiate double-double, Laura Ziegler nearly grabbed her second-straight, finishing with game-highs in points (16) and rebounds (9).
• Talya Brugler continues her recent run of form with her ninth-straight performance in double-digits, scoring 13 points with seven rebounds and three steals.
• Olivia Mullins grabbed 12 points in the win, the fourth time in the last five games scoring in double figures. Mullins had just five games with 10+ points in her opening 52 games of her career before the recent run of form.
• Emma Boslet's 10 points marked the second time the junior reached double figures, outscoring the Billiken bench (7) all on her own. 
• The Hawks were outrebounded 43-41 on the day, 16 of the Billiken's 43 rebounds coming offensively. However, the 16 offensive boards turned into just 12 points for the visitors.

 
UP NEXT

• The Hawks welcome Loyola Chicago to Philadelphia for the first Atlantic 10 matchup between the two sides, the newly joined Ramblers entering Hagan Arena for a Tuesday evening matchup on January 10.