The Hawk

Issue date: 1/31/07 Section: Sports

Cornish reached 1,000 points on a three pointer.

There are two ways to understand something: observing or acting. With observing, one takes a step back and appreciates the work and details.

By getting involved, one is actively and willingly putting hands on. One is not passively observing from afar, but is right in the middle of the very thing one is studying.

In basketball, one gets involved or gets out.

Watching is not an option.

After playing two intense halves against Big 5 rival Temple University at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse on Sunday, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team watched a possible win fade away as the Owls scored the first eight opening points of overtime.

Senior point guard Whitney Ffrench scored the first basket in overtime with only one minute left to bring Hawks within six points, 67-73. Senior guard Ayahna Cornish brought St. Joe's within four, but Temple converted 11-of-12 free throws for the win, 78-71.

It was a bittersweet night for Cornish. Cornish finished with 15 points and five rebounds, but most impressively, she reached her 1,000 point mark on a skilled three point basket in the second half. Cornish is the nineteenth player in Saint Joseph's women's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points.

Head Coach Cindy Griffin said it best when she noted in the press conference after the game that Cornish missed half of her sophomore year due to a knee injury and the final nine games of her junior year to a torn ACL and was still able to tally 1,000 points.

"Ayahna is a tough, hard nosed basketball player that has tremendous work ethic," said Griffin.

First half stats for Saint Joseph's and the Owls are deceiving. In the first half, the Hawks shot 70 percent from the field, an incredibly high percent. Saint Joseph's only attempted, however, 20 shots compared to Owl's 36. In the second half, St. Joe's field goal percentage drastically lowered to 29 percent, but Saint Joseph's had 53 attempts.

"In the second half the floor opened up a little bit more, but they were not clean looks," said Griffin. "In the first half we maximized our 20 shots, but only had five offensive rebounds in the second half and that is awful. That is the game right there. Not boxing out and not rebounding is inexcusable."

Each part of the game was its own entity. The only common thread, however, throughout the three periods was the intense level of contact and grit both Temple and St. Joe's players displayed on the court.

Continued...

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