Saint Joseph's Women's Basketball Tops Duquesne In Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals, 73-60
PHILADELPHIA - The fourth seeded Saint Joseph's women's basketball team down fifth seed Duquesne, 73-60, Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena. The Hawks advance to face top seed Dayton in the semifinals on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The semifinal matchup will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
PHILADELPHIA - The fourth seeded Saint Joseph's women's basketball team down fifth seed Duquesne, 73-60, Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena. The Hawks advance to face top seed Dayton in the semifinals on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The semifinal matchup will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
In a tightly-contested first half, the Hawks broke open to an 8-2 lead on a three-pointer by Erin Shields, but that would be the biggest lead of the half as Duquesne would rally to take a 13-12 advantage.
The lead would change hands six more times in the first half as Saint Joseph's took a 24-21 lead into the second half as neither team shot over 35 percent in the half.
Up 31-26 early in the second half, the Hawks would quickly open a double-digit lead behind a 6-0 run as a layup by Shields put her team up 37-26 at 15:16.
Saint Joseph's would push its lead to 15, but the Dukes rallied to make it an eight-point game, 47-39, on a pair of free throws by Vanessa Abel at 9:49.
Both teams would exchange four-point runs, but the Hawks had an answer for Duquesne as they held the Dukes at a 58-48 distance with 4:20 to play.
Duquesne cut into the lead again, making it a 58-51 contest on a free throw by Jocelyn Floyd, but Shields answered with a three to push the lead back to 10, 61-51.
Ahead 63-55 with less than two minutes to play, SJU senior guard Ashley Prim delivered the decisive blow with a three-pointer at 1:44 to make it a 66-55 game. The
Hawks would hit 7-of-10 from the foul line to close out the game.
For the game, the Hawks shot 47.8 percent from the floor (22-of-46), including 60.9 percent in the second half (14-of-23). Saint Joseph's was additionally as hot from behind the arc, shooting 57.1 percent (8-of-14) and hit 21-of-28 from the foul line.
Individually, Shields led four Hawks in double figures as she finished with a game -high 21 points. Prim added 16 points three assists and five rebounds, while redshirt senior Chatilla van Grinsven posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds togo with four assists and two blocked shots. Junior Ilze Gotfrida was the fourth
Hawks to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers. At the other end, Duquesne was held to 34.8 percent shooting (23-of-66), including just 2-of-8 from three-point range. Wumi Agunbiade led all Duquesne players with 20 points.