Women's Basketball | Hawks looking ahead to Fordham, conferece tournament possibilities

After splitting their last two games of the season, the Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team will go into the Atlantic 10 conference tournament as the fifth seed in the conference.

The Hawks traveled to Amherst, Mass., this past Thursday to take on the Massachusetts Minutewomen. Despite starting out on a roll, the Hawks could not hold back UMass late in the game, losing 75-62.

The Hawks (16-13, 9-5 A-10) started out setting a good pace. Early shots by Ashley Logue, ’10, and Amy Gillespie, ’10, gave St. Joe’s an early lead. For most of the half, the Hawks were able to fend off the Minutewomen (11-18, 5-9 A-10), allowing them to get as close as one point, but not letting them take the lead. With 3:09 left, however, UMass took the lead. This came as part of a 10-0 run to end the first half that left the Hawks down 29-23.

In the second half, UMass picked up where they had left off in the first half. The Minutewomen opened up with a 9-2 run that left the Hawks down 35-25 with 16:54 left. Despite the Hawks’ best efforts, UMass proved to be too strong on their home turf, allowing St. Joe’s to only get as close as seven points, winning the game by a score of 75-62. Providing the silver lining within the loss for the Hawks were the efforts of Logue, Marieme Djouara, ’10, and Dominique Bryant, ’11, who had 12, 11, and 11 points, respectively.

Following the tough loss, the Hawks traveled home for one last game at Hagan Arenathis season against Duquesne. The Dukes (19-10, 9-5 A-10), much like the Hawks, came into this game looking to improve their seeding possibilities by attempting to gain a shot at fourth in the conference. Despite a second-half comeback, however, Duquesne could not hold on against St. Joe’s as the Hawks picked up one final victory on the year by a score of 69-56.

After the pre-game celebrations of senior day, the Hawks quickly got down to business. Despite a small struggle to open the game, St. Joe’s quickly pulled out to a large lead thanks to the efforts of the four seniors: Logue, Gillespie, Djouara, and Brittany Ford, ’10. By halftime, the Hawks had pulled out to a comfortable 34-25 lead.    

The Dukes were not to be outdone, however. Down 10 with 12 minutes to go, the Dukes made their move, taking advantage of some offensive miscues by the Hawks to go up 50-49 with 8:21 remaining.

Down but not out, the Hawks came clawing back. Led by their four seniors, St. Joe’s regained the lead, taking advantage of some late foul trouble to seal the victory against Duquesne, winning by a final score of 69-56.

What awaits the Hawks is a trip to the A-10 Conference Tournament in Upper Marlboro, Md., with what is most likely a number five seed. Head coach Cindy Griffin enters the tournament with a great deal of optimism.

“I told my seniors that freshman year we were in the same scenario,” said Griffin. “We were the fifth seed and we made it all the way to the finals, so there’s no reason we can’t do that again.”

By the end of Sunday, the Hawks did end up with the fifth seed, meaning that their first game will be on March 5 at 2:30 p.m. against Fordham, who ended up with the  12th spot. With the final win at home, the Hawks should have some positive momentum to build on, which will hopefully lead to a deep run in the tournament. While unsure of who her team will face in the tournament, Griffin has a basic strategy already in mind.

“I just think we need to keep them fresh. We’re so deep anyway, so we’re going to play that guard as well. We’ve just got to keep everybody fresh and keep everybody focused,” Griffin said.