Let's Dance: Women’s basketball makes WNIT, plays VCU this Thursday

The Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team earned a berth in the WNIT this week after going 1-1 in the Atlantic 10 Tournament last week. With a first round game on Thursday, the Hawks will play VCU in the first postseason tournament for either basketball team sine the 2007-2008 men’s team.

In the first game of the A-10 Tournament, the Hawks (17-14, 9-5 A-10) faced off against 12th seeded Fordham. The first part of the opening half was controlled by the Rams (8-22, 2-12 A-10), who opened up a 22-15 lead with under 10 minutes to go in the half.

The Hawk’s were able to change the momentum of the game, however, thanks to the efforts of Katie Kuester, ’12, who entered the game and hit three straight three-point shots to tie the game at 24 with 6:31 left in the first half. With momentum on their side, the Hawks were able to gain the lead by halftime with a score of 31-28.

From that point on, St. Joe’s refused to give up the lead. Thanks to a wonderful team effort, including six straight points from Ashley Logue, ’10, the Hawks were able to handle the Rams easily, winning by a score of 76-62.  Logue finished with a team-high 17 points on the day while Kuester finished with 12.

Up next for St. Joe’s was a more difficult challenge in fourth-seeded Charlotte. In the first half, the lead swung back in forth between both teams. At one point, the Hawks were able to gain a nine-point lead thanks to the efforts of Brittany Ford, ’10, but the 49ers (17-13, 9-5 A-10) came right back to build up a 40-31 lead at halftime.

Charlotte continued its control of the game well into the second half, squelching any rally St. Joe’s could muster. As the game winded down, however, the Hawks were able to finally mount a comeback to pull within one point of the 49ers with 6:30 remaining. With 49 seconds left, the 49ers pulled ahead, 74-71. Thanks to a last-second three pointer by Amy Gillespie, ’10, though, the Hawks sent the game into overtime and extended their hopes of going further in the tournament.

With five extra minutes on the clock, the Hawks did everything in their power to take the lead, but Charlotte proved too strong. With a missed jumper by Marieme Djouara, ’10, the Hawks found themselves at the wrong end of an 87-85 overtime loss. Dominique Bryant, ’11, finished with nine points and 10 rebounds, while Kuester finished with seven points on the afternoon.

With their chances to prove to the WNIT selection committee over, the Hawks could only sit and wait to hear if they would be playing at least one more game this season. At around 11:30 p.m. Monday night, they got their answer: they will be playing Virginia Commonwealth University this Thursday at Hagan Arena.

VCU comes into the game with a 20-12 record overall. They have a tandem of scorers in the form of D’Andra Moss and Kita Waller, who average 17.3 and 16 points per game, respectively. These two are usually the keys to victory for VCU, and if the Hawks can find a way to lock both of these down, they will move on to the second round of the tournament where they would face either Penn State or Hofstra.

Season Leaders

Points Per Game: Brittany Ford, 10.3
Rebounds Per Game: Ashley Logue, 5.3
3-Pont Percentage: Mireia Vila, 50%
Free Throw Percentage: Katie Kuester 85.7%
Assists: Ashley Prim, 112
Blocks: Brittany Ford, 31
Steals: Mariame Djouara, 48