Bills Eliminated From A-10 Tourney
March 7, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - No. 6 seed Saint Joseph's produced a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures and registered a 71-58 victory over No. 11 seed Saint Louis Friday in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship. Playing on its home floor in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, Saint Joseph's improved to 17-13 with its third consecutive victory. The Hawks will face No. 3 seed Xavier in Saturday's quarterfinals. Saint Louis, which lost its fifth straight game, finished 10-20. "It hurts to lose a game like this, but we did what we wanted to do, and that's battle," head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller said. "We wanted to battle and work hard for 40 minutes, and if we could get a win on top of that, then that would have been all the better. We didn't get the win, but I'm proud of my team for its effort." Except for an early 4-2 Saint Louis lead, Saint Joseph's held the upper hand throughout. A 3-pointer by Timisha Gomez put SJU up 7-4, and the Hawks built their lead to 19-11 with 10:33 remaining. The Billikens assembled a quick 8-2 run to pull to within a bucket. Katie Paganelli made a reverse layup, Lauren Woods hit a driving layup, Amanda Kemezys buried a 10-footer from the right baseline and Heather King received a nifty feed from Theresa Lisch for a layup, and it was 21-19 Saint Joseph's at the 8:55 mark. Saint Louis had a chance to tie or take the lead on two consecutive possessions but couldn't convert, and an Amy Wold 3-pointer sparked a 9-0 spurt that gave Saint Joseph's a 30-19 cushion with 5:32 to play. Maggie Hennegan drove for a layup that stopped the SJU surge, but the Hawks carried a 33-25 lead to the locker room.
Saint Joseph's twice led by 11 points early in the second half before Saint Louis made it interesting with a 9-2 run. Lisch made a layup, Paganelli drilled a jumper from the free-throw line and Hayley Leake sank a free throw to slice the Saint Joseph's advantage to 43-37. Brittany Ford's layup momentarily slowed the Saint Louis charge, but Jackie Gilbert hit a runner in the lane and Paganelli swished an 18-footer from the left baseline to narrow the Hawks' lead to 45-41 with 9:47 left. However, that was as close as the Bills would get. Sarah Acker tallied six points in an 8-0 run that gave Saint Joseph's a 53-41 cushion, and the Hawks expanded the margin to 22 points down the stretch before settling for the final score. Paganelli led SLU with 13 points, while Hennegan scored 10 points to go with a team-high six rebounds. Lisch and Kemezys tallied eight points apiece, with Lisch adding five rebounds and a team-high five assists. Gilbert, a senior, had seven points and three assists in her final game. Jenna Loschiavo led all players with 16 points, including a 4-of-8 effort from 3-point range. Gomez registered 15 points and six assists, Ford netted 13 points and Acker recorded 12 points and 12 rebounds. Mary Kate McDade dished out six assists. |
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