St. Joe’s and George Mason entered their Thursday-night matchup in Fairfax, Va., with the same goal: extend their eight-game winning streak to nine.
The Hawks entered into the game 11-0 on the road, while the Patriots were 9-0 at home. St. Joe’s entered the game with the seventh-ranked scoring defense in the country (53.7 points per game), while George Mason entered the game atop the Atlantic 10 conference in scoring (73.4).
Oh, and first place in the A-10 conference also was on the line.
Needless to say, it made for not just an important game, but an exciting one as well.
“We knew going into this game that [it] was a big game for us based on the records,” St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin said.
The Hawks ultimately came out on top, 59-47. They’re now 11-1 in the A-10 after extending their winning streak to nine and their road streak to 12-0, while matching the program-best record (22-2) set in 1976-77.
After extending their streaks, matching program records and holding off the top offense in the conference, the question still remains: Is this enough for St. Joe’s to finally get Top 25 consideration?
Griffin certainly thinks so.
“I suppose it’s well-deserved,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know what more we have to do, to be honest.”
Associated Press (AP) voters seemed to disagree. While the Hawks received four votes in Monday’s poll, they were still unable to crack the rankings.
During the Feb. 8 game, the Patriots (18-4, 9-2) opened the game by taking quick shots and forcing St. Joe’s to match their pace in a first quarter that ended with George Mason leading 13-8.
But the Hawks settled in and switched the pace in the second quarter. After the Patriots extended their lead to 18-8 early in the second quarter, a three from Hawk’s sophomore Laura Ziegler with 8 minutes, 39 seconds left marked the beginning of the shift and St. Joe’s went on to dominate the quarter, 25-13.
“I think Laura hit that three, and everybody settled in,” Griffin said, “and we knew that we were going to do what we do and we’re going to take away those quick shots, their easy shots, and make every shot that they got really difficult. And then on the flip side, we were very patient on offense. We got some really good looks.”
Aside from helping the Hawks settle in during the second quarter, Ziegler went on to lead the Hawks with 19 points and 14 rebounds for her sixth consecutive double-double. Mackenzie Smith and Talya Brugler added 11 points each. Ta’Viyanna Habib paced the Patriots with 12 points.
While they’d enjoy being ranked, for Griffin and the Hawks, the particular number is not as important as what it means and where they hope to be.
“We will obviously love [being ranked] and take pride in that, but we know where we want to be at the end of the year,” Griffin said. “So being ranked now or later on [in] the year, it’s important. We want to be playing in the NCAA Tournament for sure.”
With their next home contest against Dayton (10-13, 4-8) coming up on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+), there’s not much more for St. Joe’s to do besides wait and see if that game can finally be the one to get the Hawks the recognition they’re aiming for.
“I think it’s time for the Atlantic 10, in particular St. Joe’s, to be ranked in the Top 25,” Griffin said.
This article was first published by the Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 9 as part of the Inquirer’s college correspondent program. Edits were made from the original article to account for the Associated Press top 25 women’s basketball poll from Feb. 12.
