March 18, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - Courtney Hurt scored 29 points and D'Andra Moss had 27 points and 11 rebounds as Virginia Commonwealth defeated Saint Joseph's, 74-63, in a Women's National Invitation Tournament First-Round game at Hagan Arena. Saint Joseph's ends the year with a 17-15 record.

VCU, now 21-12, advances to the WNIT Second Round to face Hofstra, which was a 76-68 winner over Penn State.

The teams traded leads in the first half, and the Hawks owned a 37-36 lead at halftime, while shooting 51.7 percent from the field. Ashley Logue led the way for SJU, scoring 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting, while Moss and Hurt combined for 26 points on 11-for-22 shooting to pace VCU.

A jumper by Dominique Bryant gave SJU a 46-40 lead at 15:13 of the second half, but Moss and Hurt combined for seven straight points to move the Rams ahead, 47-46. Mariame Djouara answered with a jumper to put SJU ahead one more time, 48-47, After a 48-48 tie, VCU would then go on a 14-6 run over the next five minutes, to take a 62-54 lead on at 7:07 on a jumper by Ebony Patterson.

VCU, which shot 54.2 percent in the second half, increased its lead to double digits, 64-54, at 5:51 on a jumper by Kita Waller, and led by as much as 15 points late in the game to hold onto the win.

"We were trying different things - zone, man, press - and we pushed first and they pushed back. It was a real fight. I think the difference was, we didn't play defense for 30 seconds, we played for 26 (of the shot clock) and in those last few seconds they were able to make plays down the stretch," said SJU coach Cindy Griffin.

Logue finished with 17 points and six rebounds for Saint Joseph's, while Katie Kuester had 12 and Djouara scored 10 points.