Hawks Cruise to Victory Over City 6 Foes Drexel

The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team is walking on the precipice of program history, defeating Drexel 69-49 on Sunday afternoon inside Hagan Arena to give the Hawks the best start of the head coach Cindy Griffin era.

Saint Joseph's (8-0, 3-0 City 6) cruised to the third win against a Philly rival in as many attempts as Drexel falls to 5-2, both losses coming in the only City 6 matchups of the season thus far. The 8-0 start for the Crimson and Gray is the second-best in program history, the longest since the 1984-85 team began 10-0.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After an early two free throws from Keishana Washington for the visitors, the Hawks jumped on an 8-0 run, Olivia Mullins starting it with a triple before a Mackenzie Smith put back and triple of her own gave the Hawks an early lead.
• Trading shots back and forth, the Crimson and Gray again found themselves on a run, a wide-open Laura Ziegler under the basket starting an 8-2 spurt after a pair of Julia Nyström threes extended the Hawk advantage all the way to 20-9 with a minute left in the first. Washington would score her ninth of the Drexel 11 points in the opening quarter with 25 seconds remaining to cut the SJU lead back to single digits.
• Drexel opened up the second quarter, able to cut the lead to six points after a Brianne Borcky layup (25-19) After Smith and Washington hit triples on both ends, the Hawks used a 10-0 run to finish the half out to lead the City 6 rivals, 38-22.
• The two teams combined for just four baskets in the opening four minutes of the half, benefiting the Hawks with a double-digit advantage. Washington's layup with just over five minutes on the clock have the Drexel playmaker 23 on the night, cutting the SJU lead to 42-39.
• St. Joe's scored on four of its next four possessions, the nine points able to give the Hawks the biggest lead to that point at 51-31. SJU kept the Dragons at bay by at least 16 points the rest of the quarter, headed into the final frame 55-37.
• The margin stayed between 16 and 22 points for the entire fourth, neither team able to create separation either way as the Hawks would cruise to the eighth-straight victory on the year.

GAME NOTES

• The Hawks break a five-game losing streak to the Dragons and improve to 11-10 all-time against Drexel.
• SJU led for 38:18 of the contest, with only one lead change and zero ties throughout the contest.
• The 49 points allowed is tied for the lowest allowed by the Hawks all season, last coming in the season opener against Bucknell.
• SJU's 18 points in the second quarter was the highest scoring second frame of the season, allowing the Hawks to take a 16-point lead (second-largest) into the half. SJU has taken a halftime advantage in seven of the eight games.
• The Hawks shot 24-54 (44.4%) from the field, including 9-21 (42.9%) from deep. For the seventh time this year, SJU held its opponent under 40% shooting, Drexel finishing 20-51 (39.2%) from the floor.
• Talya Brugler recorded her first double-double of the season and her fourth of the career, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists. Six of her 11 rebounds came in the second quarter.
• Mackenzie Smith had a team-high 17 points, two shy of her season-best performance. The sophomore added two steals and two assists.
• Laura Ziegler poisted 10 points and three rebounds, adding an assist and a block. Nyström finished with nine points off the bench and four assists.
• Ziegler and Katie Jekot (4p/6r/5a) led the Hawks with a plus-minus of +22 and +20, respectively.
• Washington finished with 28 points and four assists for the Dragons, hitting 10-27 attempts from the field. The 28 points is the most by an opponent since the A-10 semifinals game, Sam Breen scoring 28 for Massachusetts.

UP NEXT

• The Hawks head out on a two-game road trip, starting with midweek action at Rider on Wednesday, December 7. Tip is slated for 7 p.m.

This news article originally appeared on sjuhawks.com.