Offense Shines in Women’s Basketball’s 74

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Offense Shines in Women's Basketball's 74

Next Game: Howard 12/20/2024 | 11:00 AM Dec. 20 (Fri) / 11:00 AM Howard History PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team shot over 60% for the game as the Hawks rolled to a 74-48 victory over Maine inside Hagan Arena on Monday evening. St. Joe’s (7-2) finished the second half shooting 16-23 (69.6%) from […]

Next Game:
Howard
12/20/2024 | 11:00 AM

Dec. 20 (Fri) / 11:00 AM

Howard

History

PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team shot over 60% for the game as the Hawks rolled to a 74-48 victory over Maine inside Hagan Arena on Monday evening.

St. Joe’s (7-2) finished the second half shooting 16-23 (69.6%) from the field, winning its second game in the last four days. Maine (3-7) dropped its third-consecutive contest.

FIRST QUARTER

The Hawks assisted on the first five baskets to build an early 11-3 advantage, led by a quick four points and six rebounds from Laura Ziegler. Gabby Casey finished off the old-fashioned three-point play on the other end of the media timeout to extend the advantage to 12-3.
Casey accounted for the final nine points of the quarter, scoring seven with an additional assist to Paula Maurina to give St. Joe’s an 18-9 lead after 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER

Maine opened the quarter on a 7-3 run to reduce the gap to 21-16.
Mackenzie Smith responded to a triple from the Black Bears with a three-pointer of her own to start a quick 7-0 answer for the Hawks to push the lead to double figures.
The visitors chipped away at the lead, able to grab a basket as time expired to cut the St. Joe’s advantage to 35-28 at the break.

THIRD QUARTER

The teams were held to just one basket each over the first five minutes of the second half, combining for two field goals in the first nine attempts.
Smith broke the cold spell with a drive to the basket midway through the quarter, finishing under the rim while drawing contact to go to the line for the three-point play.
On the other end of the break, Smith finished off the and-one before banking in a three from the wing. A quick steal into a fastbreak layup capped off an 8-0 spurt and forced a Black Bear timeout with the Hawks leading by 14.
Mackenzie Smith finished the quarter scorching the net from distance, knocking down three triples over the final 2:20 of the frame to help build a 56-41 advantage going into the last stanza.

FOURTH QUARTER

St. Joe’s opened 4-4 from the field to start the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run. The Hawks extended the run to 12-2 after Mackenzie Smith tallied her 26^th point of the evening with a layup under the basket.
Only eight points were scored over the final five and a half minutes, the Hawks recording six of the eight to cruise to the third-consecutive win over Maine in a 74-48 victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Mackenzie Smith scored a season-high 26 points to pace the Hawks, 15 of the 26 coming in the third quarter. Smith finished 9-12 from the field and 6-9 from the three-point line for her fourth 20-point game of the season. Smith set a career high with her six made threes.
Smith surpassed Alyssa Monaghan (2015-19) to move into 13^th all-time in scoring in SJU history, ending the game with 1,282 career points.
Laura Ziegler matched her career-high with 16 rebounds in the win, adding 16 points and six assists for her seventh double-double of the season. Ziegler recorded double figures in points and rebounds in the first half.
Ziegler collected 16 rebounds for the fourth time in her career, becoming just the third Hawk in head coach Cindy Griffin‘s tenure to record 15+ rebounds on four occassions (Chatilla van Grinsven, Adashia Franklyn).
Talya Brugler ended the night with 14 points and five assists, notching her 12^th game in a row with double-digit scoring. The senior moved solely into sixth place in scoring in program history, starting the night tied with Trish Brown (1981-85) and Angela Zampella (1997-01).
Gabby Casey finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Hawks shot 29-48 (60.4%) from the field, the first time since the trip to George Washington last season (Jan. 4, 2023) that the Hawks finished above 60% from the field. St. Joe’s held a 44-20 advantage in points in the paint. SJU finished at least 50% from the floor in all four quarters.
St. Joe’s went 7-17 (41.2%) from three-point distance to finish near its season average.
The Hawks recorded 20 assists for the sixth time this season, entering the game as a top 10 program in assists per game.
All seven wins for the Hawks have come by double figures. The Hawks move to 3-1 against Maine all-time, all four games against the Black Bears also decided by double-digits.
For the fifth time this season, the Hawks led end-to-end of the contest.

UP NEXT
St. Joe’s prepares to host the Hawk Classic on December 20-21 inside Hagan Arena. The Hawks begin with Howard at 11 a.m. on December 20, meeting the winner of Northwestern/College of Charleston on December 21.

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