Hawks Cruise to 79-56 Victory Over North Florida

The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team continued its strong start to the season, winning the sixth-straight game to open the year with a 79-56 victory over North Florida on Sunday afternoon inside UNF Arena.

Saint Joseph's (6-0) grabs its longest win streak to start a season under head coach Cindy Griffin since winning seven-straight to begin the season in 2005-06.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hawks started the game on a 7-2 run, Laura Ziegler opening the scoring with a triple before finishing at the rim to give the Hawks an early five-point lead.
• Talya Brugler grabbed her first basket of the game with a strong post move to scoop in from the right side of the basket before Olivia Mullins followed suit with a fast break euro step to extend the SJU lead to 15-5, forcing the Ospreys into a timeout.
• Ziegler capped off an eventual 13-0 run from the Hawks, extending the lead to 20-5 after her second triple of the contest. Saint Joseph's would climb out to a 22-7 lead after 10 minutes.
• After Lyric Swann ended the 15-2 Hawk run to open the second quarter, Paula Maurina responded with an and-one, capping off a three point play to put SJU up by 16. Boslet grabbed her first basket of the game the next trip down, continuing her strong start to the season after making her debut against Temple.
• The offense continued for St. Joe's, as Katie Jekot knocked down back-to-back threes to give the Hawks their largest lead of the entire season at 33-10. UNF would slightly trim the deficit to 39-19 headed into the half.
• The Hawks forced UNF into six turnovers in the opening five minutes of the second half, the defense allowing to keep the Hawks up by 20+ points for the majority of the third.
• Back-to-back triples from Ziegler and Mullins doubled the scoring of UNF for a 56-28 lead before Jaden Walker got into the action to make eight-straight points for the Hawks. Walker again called her own number, grabbing an offensive rebound with two seconds left in the third and beating the buzzer to take a 62-33 lead into the final frame.
• Emirson Devenie grabbed her first collegiate points for the Crimson and Gray to open the fourth, scoring the first eight points of the quarter for SJU. The Hawks would cruise to a 79-56 victory to improve to 6-0 on the season.

GAME NOTES

• The first quarter for the Hawks provided the highest scoring opening quarter of the season with 22, while limiting the Ospreys to the lowest output of any opponent in a quarter. The 19 points given up in the first half is also a season-best for the Hawk defense.
• SJU scored 70+ points for the second-straight game, tallying a season-high 79 against the Ospreys. The 23 point victory was the largest since defeating George Washington last season.
• 11 players entered the game before the fourth quarter. Nine of the 11 recorded points for the Hawks, all scoring at least six points.
• The Hawks hit 26-55 (47.1%) of their attempts from the field, sizzling from behind the arc for 11-21 (52.4%). SJU also knocked down 16-19 (84.2%) of its freebies.
• SJU outrebounded UNF by a 37-28 margin, converting 10 offensive rebounds into 17 points. The Hawks posted 16 assists on 26 made baskets and swiped a season-high 10 steals.
• For just the third time in the program history (second time under Coach Griffin), the Hawks have started a season 6-0. The best start to a season was a 10-0 mark in 1984-85.
• Ziegler led all scorers for the Hawks with 15 points and a tied team-best eight rebounds. Jekot was the only other Hawk in double-digits with 11 points, now just eight points shy of hitting 1,000 on her career.
• Mullins paced the Hawks with nine points, eight rebounds (tied career-high), five steals (career-high) and four assists (season-high) in just 26 minutes.
• Paula Maurina (7), Walker (6), Boslet (6) and Devenie (8) all tied or set season-highs in points.
• Kaylie Griffin posted her first career assist after crimson shirting last year. Her mother and head coach sits fifth all-time in assists in program history.

UP NEXT

• The Hawks return to Hawk Hill for a two-game homestand, starting with Boston University on Thursday, Dec.1. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

This news article originally appeared on sjuhawks.com.