PHILADELPHIA – Saint Joseph's women's basketball suffered its first defeat inside Hagan Arena on Sunday afternoon, dropping an 81-65 contest to Villanova in Big 5 play.
The Hawks fall to 5-2 on the year and 1-1 in the Big 5. Villanova improved to 5-3 and 2-0 in Big 5 action and will meet Temple in the Big 5 Classic championship game. St. Joe's and Drexel match up in the third-place game.
FIRST QUARTER
- After winning the tip, the Hawks found a quick shot as Mackenzie Smith was left open on the wing for a triple. The ensuing possession, Emma Boslet knocked down a three of her own after the defense collapsed inside to leave the guard open.
- The Hawks went cold with a 1-12 effort from the field, allowing the Wildcats to close on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 13-13 after the opening frame.
- Smith and Boslet combined for all 13 of the points in the first quarter, the rest of the team combining for 0-9 from the field.
SECOND QUARTER
- A slow start by the two teams in the second frame saw just 14 points in the first six minutes, sharing the points after Laura Ziegler finished an old-fashioned three-point play to notch the score at 20-20.
- Jasmine Bascoe led the Wildcats to a 6-0 run with a pair of buckets before Smith ended the drought for the Hawks at the free throw line.
- St. Joe's cut the deficit to three before a Villanova triple with 20 seconds remaining gave the visitors a 32-26 lead at the half.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Hawks opened just 1-9 from the field, Villanova taking advantage of the cold start to extend the lead to as many as 16.
- Talya Brugler led a late charge to bring the score within 54-43, scoring five of the eight points in an 8-2 run for the Hawks to cap off the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
- Villanova opened with a pair of baskets to start the fourth, St. Joe's answering with buckets of its own on the other end.
- The Hawks were able to trim the deficit to 10 on multiple occasions but the Wildcats were able to extinguish any momentum on their offensive end. A quick 6-0 spurt from Villanova extended the lead to 16 points with four minutes to play.
- Back-to-back possessions with points from Brugler and Aleah Snead looked to try and give Hawks a late run, but Jasmine Bascoe's triple at the other end provided the dagger as St. Joe's fell for the first time this season in Hagan Arena in an 81-65 defeat.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Mackenzie Smith had a team-high 18 points for St. Joe's, adding six rebounds to her performance. Smith surpassed Chelsea Woods (2014-18) for 16th in scoring in program history and sits two points shy of Ayahna Cornish (2003-07).
- Talya Brugler added 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, also climbing the scoring charts as the senior surpassed Megan Compain (1993-97) for eighth in school history. Brugler has 1,499 career points, now 10 points shy of Trish Brown (1981-85) and Angela Zampella (1997-01).
- Laura finished with her fifth-consecutive double-double, adding 12 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks in the defeat.
- Rhian Stokes added eight points to lead the Hawks off the bench.
- St. Joe's finished the game just 18-58 (31.0%) from the field, its worst shooting performance of the season. The Hawks were just 8-33 (24.2%) from the field in the first half.
- Led by a perfect 11-11 from Smith, the Hawks finished 25-27 from the charity stripe for a 92.6% clip.
UP NEXT
St. Joe's meets Drexel in the third-place match at the Big 5 Classic tripleheader on Friday, December 6 at the Finneran Pavilion. Tip is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.
