Feb. 25, 2005

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Despite a the first double-double of her freshman center Erica Pollock's career, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team fell at La Salle 66-51 Friday evening.

The Hawks jumped out to an early 11-5 lead, but saw the Explorers roar back to take a 14-12 lead a pair of free throws by Carlene Hightower. La Salle held Saint Joseph's scoreless for five minutes as they used a 9-1 run to gain the lead.

Saint Joseph's rallied to tie the score at 14, but the Explorers went on an 18-5 run to end the half, taking a 32-19 lead into the locker-room.

The second half didn't start any better for Saint Joseph's as La Salle senior Jill Marano opened with seven straight points to give the Explorers their largest lead of the game, 42-22, with 26:53 remaining.

Saint Joseph's refused to give in, mounting a 17-3 comeback to cut the deficit to six, 45-39 with 9:37 left in the half. Pollock accounted for eight of her career-high 18 points during the run.

Unfortunately for the Hawks they would get no closer than 49-43 as La Salle outscored Saint Joseph's 17-8 over the final seven minutes to secure the victory.

As a team, Saint Joseph's shot 21-of-56 from the field (.375) and 5-14 from three-point range. The Hawks trouble came at the charity stripe, as they only knocked down 4-of-13 (.308). La Salle finished the game 22-of-43 (.512) and 5-9 from long distance (.555)

Individually, Pollock led the Hawks in scoring with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Sophomore Ayahna Cornish was the only other SJU player to score in double digits, adding 15.

Marano added a game-high 23 points, while Hightower added a career-best 16 in La Salle's win.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 6-21 overall, 4-11 in the Atlantic 10 and 0-3 in the Big 5. La Salle improves to 12-14 overall, 6-9 in the conference and finishes 1-3 in the Big 5.

Saint Joseph's will host Temple at 2 p.m. Sunday in the season finale. This game will be broadcast locally on CN8.