By Kyle Soppe
In the second A-10 championship game of the afternoon, the St. Joseph’s Hawks (5 seed) faced off against the Fordham Rams (12 seed), with a date with the Richmond Spiders (4 seed) on the line.
The Hawks, winners of five of their last six games, came in as the heavy favorite against a Rams team that needed an emotional overtime victory over St. Louis on the final day of the regular season just to qualify for the postseason.
While Fordham battled, they simply couldn’t produce enough offense on this afternoon, as the Saint Joe’s prevailed 63-52.
The pressures of playing in a high stakes, season-ending tournament are immense, and while playing at your home gymnasium is an advantage, it also comes with a load of expectations. The hometown Hawks struggled mightily in the early going, held scoreless for the game’s first four minutes. Fordham opened cold as well, but Arielle Collins (the Rams leader in points, assists, steals, and minutes) was able to find enough breathing room to kiss a right-handed floater off the window for the games first points.
The Rams continued to load up the paint, but the Hawks would eventually find their groove. Winning 12 of their 14 games at the Hagan Arena, the Hawks needed to see the ball tickle the twine just once to establish a comfort level. They got just that when prime-time passer Ashley Prim launched a standstill triple from the right wing, ending SJU’s 0-6 start from the field. The shot hit nothing but net, and the Hawks buried five of their next six shots.
Michelle Baker (13.1 points per game in conference play) converted back to back pull-up jumpers after Prim knocked down another set shot, and the Hawks were off and running with a 11-4 advantage.
As is the case with many teams that take a high percentage of their field goal attempts from outside the painted area, the Hawks streakiness gave the Rams hope. Their hot shooting cooled off, and Becky Peters (a four year star who has averaged double figures since stepping on Fordham’s campus) began to flex her offensive muscle. The senior guard drove at full speed to her left, and guided the ball into the basket on consecutive possessions. One trip later, Emily Tapio streaked across the lane and connected from close range.
SJU responded, finding their shooting stroke and regained a lead they never relinquished. Using another pull up from Baker, the Hawks then rode the hot hand of Katie Kuester on their way to a 34-22 half time edge. The three-point specialist caught the ball at the top of the key and fired. While the ball was in flight, Kuester backpeddled with a grin, as she knew where this shot was headed.
Splash!
In the first stanza’s final two minutes, Kuester buried two more deep jumpers, giving her the game’s last seven points, and propelling her Hawks to a comfortable halftime lead. The senior had eight points in the half, as did Baker, while Prim led all scorers with 11 on 5-of-8 shooting.
The two teams each attempted 27 field goals, but the Rams only converted on seven of them, while the Hawks shot 66.7% over the final 16 minutes of the first half.
St. Joe’s opened the second half much more deliberate in running their offense, as they seemed content to chew up clock and play good defense for the final 20 minutes. Both teams came out ice cold again, making the 12-point halftime edge seem much larger. The teams combined to make four field goals in the the halves first six minutes, and the lead remained double digits. Fordham cut the lead to 10 points, on the heels of back to back treys from Christina Gaskin and Abigail Corning, but the Hawks never blinked, and continued to systematically pick apart the Rams defense. Kuester leaked on in transition for an easy two, and Ashley Robinson pumped her fists after she finished a lay up plus the contact. The lead swelled to 15 points, and with the Hawks holding the Rams to 14.3% shooting during the first nine minutes of the second half, that was plenty of breathing room.
Michelle Baker led all scorers with 20 points, and scored run stopping buckets on multiple occasions. Her indefensible pull-up jumper presented problems all afternoon, as the Rams simply had no answer.
“We’ve worked hard this season. Coach has a drill “guard-post,” where I can work on the pull up game,” Baker commented. “It really paid off today.”
After not recording a 20+ point game during the first 23 games of the season, Baker has now eclipsed the 20-point plateau in three of her last six.
Coach Griffin is excited for tomorrow’s match up with the guard-heavy Richmond Spiders: ” We will go with whatever is working tomorrow. We are a balanced team, and we will look to maintain that. Our posts may not have shot a ton [the starting three guards for SJU took 35 shots], but they did a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score. ”
Abigail Corning canned four three pointers on her way to a team high 17 points. Charlotte Stoddart was the only player to record a double double as she posted 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Rams.
The Hawks look like a team determined to make a run on their home court and will face a Spiders team that beat them 78-59 earlier this season. A stat to track for tomorrow’s game; the score after 20 minutes. The Hawks have outscored their opponents by 122 points in first halves this season, while they hold only a 29 point edge in second halves. Playing into the Hawks favor was their ability to win in convincing fashion despite limited production from senior Kelly Cavallo. Saddled with foul trouble early, Cavallo tallied only two points (season average of eight) and one rebound (season average of 8.2). She will be counted on more against the athletic front of the Spiders.
Leave a Reply