Jan. 12, 2008

Final Stats

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Despite sending three players into double digits, the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team dropped a 68-61 decision to Saint Joseph's on Saturday afternoon at Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center in the opening of Atlantic 10 action.

The Bonnies' second defeat in three games drops the club to 12-4 (0-1) on the season, while the Hawks picked up their fourth win in five contests to improve to 9-7 (1-0). Today's loss was the Brown and White's first in the last two season's when leading at the half after entering this afternoon's tilt with a 21-0 mark when owning an advantage at the break.

Junior Katelyn Murray drained 4-of-6 three-pointers en route to a team-high 20 points for her third game of at lest 20 tallies this season. For the 16th consecutive contest, sophomore Dana Mitchell reached double figures with 18 points on an 8-for-18 shooting effort from the field, while junior point guard Tiara Johnson matched a career-best 11 points.

The Hawks registered 32 of their 68 overall points in the paint as they became just the third team this season to shoot over 50 percent from the field vs. the Bonnies with a 51.0 percent clip on the afternoon. After falling behind in the waning seconds of the first half, Saint Joseph's owned an edge for all but 1:25 of the final 20 minutes of play.

Senior Timisha Gomez tallied 13 of her game-high 21 points in the second stanza, while freshman center Sarah Acker parlayed a perfect 7-of-7 performance from the floor into 18 points to go along with a contest-best nine rebounds.

"Saint Joseph's is a very good program that is always among the top four in the Atlantic 10," said head coach Jim Crowley. "Although we had everyone believing that we could win the ball game, I think we were a little tight down the stretch and they hit some free throws to seal the game."

After outscoring the Brown and White 20-11 to close the first half, Saint Joseph's continued its momentum out of intermission with an early 9-4 run to take a 43-39 lead just over three minutes into the second stanza. Acker accounted for all nine of the Hawk points to begin the half, scoring on a variety of post moves in the paint.

The Brown and White responded over the next 4:26 by recording eight of the contest's next 10 points to regain the lead at 50-49 following two freebies at the charity stripe from Mitchell. The Atlantic 10's leading scorer accumulated half of the Bona points during the run, while Johnson and Murray each converted lay ups in traffic to push the Bonnies ahead.

However, Gomez tallied seven straight points to put the visiting Hawks back in front for good at 56-50. The veteran guard hit a pair of short jumpers in the lane before netting her only three-pointer of the game from the right wing to extend the Saint Joseph's lead to six with 5:40 left.

Despite trailing by just six points, the Bona offense went cold as they failed to notch a single field goal during a 6:39 span midway through the second session. The Brown and White managed just two free throws during the stretch.

The Bonnies would cut the lead to a single-point on three different occasions in the final four minutes, but Saint Joseph's was able to answer each time with a clutch basket to reclaim a three-point advantage. The Hawks canned six free throws down the stretch to clinch the A-10 opener.

Thanks to sizzling shooting from Murray, the Bonnies entered the locker room with a slim 35-34 advantage at the break. The Harrisburg, Pa. product connected on four triples in the opening 20 minutes of play en route to 14 first half points.

Not to be outdone by the junior guard, Saint Joseph's converted four three-pointers of its own to stay within striking distance throughout the first half.

Despite being held scoreless for the first two-plus minutes of the contest, the Bonnies poured in four consecutive triples from behind the arc to take a 12-11 advantage in the early stages of the first session.

Junior Erica Schiefen sparked the three-point barrage with a trifecta off an in bounds play at the 17:39 mark before fellow classmate Murray drilled her first three shots of the game from three-point land to put the Brown and White in front by a single point.

Following Murray's third trifecta from the top of the arc, Mitchell tallied her first points of the afternoon the next time down the floor at the beginning of a 15-2 Bonnie run to push the home side's advantage to double digits at 24-13 with 9:12 showing on the scoreboard.

The Hawks connected on a pair of free throws before eight straight Bona points beginning with a fast break lay in from junior Ashley Edwards. Johnson tallied the next three points during the run, including a driving lay up at the basket to extend the club's lead to six points.

Saint Joseph's outscored the Bonnies 20-11 in the final 8:41 of the first stanza to cut an earlier 11-point deficit to just one at the half. The Hawks hit a pair of three-pointers during the spurt and even gained a 34-33 lead with 31 seconds remaining thanks to sophomore Amy Gillespie's three from the beyond the arc. The Bonnies tallied four of the half's final seven points, including a short jumper from Edwards just before the buzzer sounded.

Following their first home contest in 52 days, the Brown and White will return to the road for a 7:00 p.m. tilt at Temple on Tuesday, Jan. 15.