Four in a row for the women’s basketball team
The St. Joe’s women’s basketball team capped off Senior Day with a 70-49 victory over La Salle University on Feb. 17.
Senior forward Adashia Franklyn, senior guard Chelsea Woods and senior forward Candace Belvedere were all honorees for the Senior Day celebration. The occasion gave way extra motivation on the floor, according to teammates.
“We want to play for our seniors,” said junior forward Sarah Veilleux. “We want to send them out with a win on their senior day. We talked about it before the game. It gave us a lot of energy.”
St. Joe’s got off to a rough start in the first quarter against a struggling 8-19 La Salle team. They were down early, but physicality on the defensive end allowed for a manageable 11-15 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks were down by as much as eleven towards the end of the second quarter. However, Woods was able to score a quick eight points in the last four minutes. This put St. Joe’s within six points of the lead and gave them extra momentum headed into the second half.
“These guys thrive off of Chelsea’s defense and acrobatic finishes,” head coach Cindy Griffin said. “We don’t dunk the ball so threes and impressive finishes get us going.”
St. Joe’s fed off of this momentum throughout the third quarter. They took the lead at the five minute mark and never let it go from that point on. Players became incredibly effective in the paint, which allowed other aspects of the floor to open up.
“All season we’ve done a great job moving the ball,” Veilleux said. “When all our inside players are making layups, it opens up a lot on the outside.”
The Hawks extended their lead to double digits in the fourth quarter. They finished with their largest lead of the game, 70-49.
According to Griffin, St. Joe’s didn’t have a very good balance on both ends of the court early in the game. The second half was a different narrative.
“Effort from all five positions got us that balance,” Griffin said. “We were missing some easy layups in the beginning of the game. Once we settled down we played a little harder.”
La Salle had a pair of talented shooters within their offensive scheme. Senior guard Amy Griffin and sophomore forward Shalina Miller gave the Hawks plenty to think about in the first half. Containing them in the second half was critical in order to maintain control of the game.
“It was very important to lock them down,” Griffin said. “Amy Griffin could have had thirty tonight. She’s that talented. Miller is dangerous as well. We challenged our perimeter players to start guarding better.”
This fourth straight conference win puts St. Joe’s tied for fifth in the A-10 standings. According to Veilleux, the team needs to feed off this energy.
“We gotta keep it rolling,” Veilleux said. “We’ve won four in a row. We’re sharing the ball great and running the floor well. We just gotta keep the energy up.”
For their next game, the Hawks will travel to the Bronx to match up against conference opponent Fordham University on Feb. 24.
