PHILADELPHIA – Mackenzie Smith scored all 16 of her points in the second half to help lead Saint Joseph's to a 72-65 win over Fordham on Wednesday night inside Hagan Arena.
 
Smith finished 5-7 in the second half after beginning the game 0-6 to lead the Hawks with 16 points. Laura Ziegler scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half, with the junior adding game-highs in rebounds (12), assists (7) and blocks (3). Aleah Snead went 6-6 from the free throw line to round out the double-digit scoring with 13 points.
 
The Rams were led by a game-high 19 points from Chaé Harris. Taya Davis finished with 16 points for Fordham, while Taylor Donaldson fouled out with three points – entering the night with the second-most points per game in the Atlantic 10 (18.1).
 
Fordham started the game on a 10-3 run, forcing Saint Joseph's to chip at the lead over the course of the opening 10 minutes. The Hawks took their first lead of the game through Aleah Snead's first three-pointer of her career with over three minutes left in the opening half, but the Rams ended the frame on a 10-2 run after a heave from distance beat the buzzer to put Fordham up by five.
 
Mackenzie Smith led the Hawks with nine points in the third quarter, helping St. Joe's turn the deficit into a two-point lead with 10 minutes to play.
 
The lead quickly grew to seven points inside of two minutes before reaching 10 points with two-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Hawks converted 14-19 (73.7%) from the charity stripe in the final frame to help keep the Rams at bay en route to the seven-point win.


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Smith moves to three points shy of 1,400 career points, her 10^th game this season of 15 points or more.
• Ziegler registered her 12^th double-double of the season and her 33^rd of her career, moving to second in program history. 10 of the 12 rebounds collected were on the defensive glass, upping her NCAA-leading average of 9.6 defensive rebounds per game. Ziegler has scored double figures in all 17 games this season.
• Snead recorded 10+ points for just the fourth time in her career and the third time this season. The sophomore registered her first three-pointer in the first half, leading the Hawks with 13 of the 23 bench points. Snead also grabbed a season-high six rebounds and set a new career-best with three steals.
• Gabby Casey finished with eight points, the Hawks having a team-high +17 plus-minus with her on the court.
• Saint Joseph's forced 17 turnovers, leading to a 25-11 discrepancy in points off turnovers in favor of the Hawks.
• St. Joe's finished just 21-53 (39.6%) from the field but limited the Rams to 22-63 (34.9%) from the floor. Fordham was held to just 9-34 (26.5%) in the second half.
• 38 of the 47 fouls called were in the second half, all 57 combined free throws taken in the final 20 minutes. The Hawks finished 25-35 (71.4%) from the charity stripe, while Fordham finished 17-22 (77.3%) from the line.
• The Hawks move to 40-16 all-time against the Rams.

 
UP NEXT
Saint Joseph's heads back on the road for a contest against Massachusetts on Saturday, January 18. The Hawks and Minutewomen meet at 12:00 p.m. inside the Mullins Center.