Saint Joseph's Women's Basketball Falls To Temple, 80-70

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team fell to cross-town rival Temple, 80-70, Wednesday evening at Hagan Arena. Senior Samira van Grinsven and junior Ashley Prim finished with 13 points apiece to lead four SJU players in double figures.

The Hawks and Owls exchanged baskets over the first three minutes of the game, but a 14-2 run by Temple brought the visitors from down 8-7, to up 21-10 on a jumper by Victoria Maccaulay at 12:13.

Saint Joseph's (14-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10) rallied back to make it a 23-17 game, but eight-straight points by Temple made it 31-17 on a pair of free throws by Kristen McCarthy with 6:29 left in the half.

Another Hawk charge made it a one-possession game heading into the second stanza as SJU ended the first half on a 15-5 run. Saint Joseph's sophomore Erin Shields nailed a three pointer with less than a minute to go in the half to cut her team's deficit to 35-32.

The Hawks would keep it close over the opening 10 minutes of the second stanza, but a 10-2 run by Temple broke open the game. The Owls' Brittany Lewis banked in a jumper from the left wing with 9:220 to go to give her team a 59-48 advantage.

Saint Joseph's would get no closer than seven points from there.

For the game, the Hawks shot 44.4 percent from the floor (28-of-63) and 68.8 percent from the foul line (11-of-16), but hit just 3-of-15 from three-point range (20 percent). Individually, Prim added a team-high eight assists, with van Grinsven grabbing a team-best eight rebounds. Senior guard Katie Kuester finished with 10 points, while classmate Michelle Baker added 12 points before fouling out.

At the other end, Temple( 13-8, 6-1 A-10) hit 27-of-5 from the field (49.1 percent), 5-of-12 from three-point range (41.7 percent) and 21-of-25 from the foul line (84 percent). Shey Peddy had a game-high 26 points, while Macaulay and McCarthy added 21 points and 20 points, respectively.

Saint Joseph's returns to action this Saturday at Richmond. Game time is set for 1 p.m. with the game being televised live on the CBS Sports Network.

Game Notes
This game does not count toward the big 5 record for either school ... Kelly Cavallo added eight points and seven rebounds. .. Shields and Ashley Robinson added six points apiece ... Kasie Parker finished with two points off the bench ... Shelby Smith saw one minute of action in the first half ... SJU turned the ball over just 10 times and had 16 assists on the night ... Photos from today's game are available at www.sidephotos.com.