Saint Joseph’s Survives Drexel to Clinch Big 5 Championship Bid

Saint Joseph’s Women’s Basketball erased a 12 point first half deficit on Saturday, Nov. 29, taking down the Drexel Dragons 59-57 to clinch a spot against Villanova in the Big 5 Championship game. That will take place at the Finneran Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7; the Dragons will face Temple in the third place game at 2:15 p.m. that same day, while Penn and La Salle will battle for fifth place.

Both the Hawks and the Dragons struggled to make shots in the first period, setting the tone for a game in which neither side made more than 39 percent of their shots. After opening the scoring with a Faith Stinson layup, the Hawks missed their next seven shots in a cold spell that lasted nearly four minutes. Drexel fared little better, but managed to close the frame on an 8-0 run to establish a double digit lead. 

Two players accounted for more than two-thirds of Drexel’s scoring output, Cardinal O’Hara alumna Amaris Baker (22 points) and Laine McGurk (20 points): both played the full forty minutes. The Hawks, meanwhile, saw four of five starters finish in double figures, including a team high 16 from Gabby Casey. Guard Aleah Snead put up a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, helping Saint Joseph’s win 37-30 on the glass.

Hawks Wake Up

The Hawks closed within one point late in the second, but a McGurk triple gave Drexel momentary breathing room. Casey and Stinson sank threes of their own early in the third to give Saint Joseph’s their first lead in more than 20 minutes, and the Hawks pulled ahead 44-38 on a Rhian Stokes three with 1:57 to play in the third. Despite the momentum shift, Drexel closed out the frame on a 7-0 run, taking a one point lead into the final frame.

Jill Jekot put Saint Joseph’s ahead 53-51 with another triple with 6:07 to go. The Dragons made just one shot from the field the rest of the way, a game-tying layup from Baker, then Stinson gave the Hawks the lead for good with a layup of her own out of the media timeout.