St. Joseph’s women drop their regular-season finale to Richmond
The Hawks were without their leading scorer Gabby Casey on Saturday, while Cardinal O'Hara graduate Maggie Doogan had one of her best scoring performances for Richmond.
Maggie Doogan left it all out on the floor in what may be the final college game in her hometown.
Doogan, a graduate of Cardinal O’Hara, scored a game-high 35 points to lead Richmond past local Atlantic 10 rival St. Joseph’s, 72-61, in what was the final regular-season game for the Hawks.
It was the third time Doogan, the reigning A-10 Player of the Year, has scored 30 or more points this season for Richmond (25-6, 15-3 A-10).
Saturday was senior day for St. Joe’s (19-10, 10-8 A-10), which honored its two senior players, forward Faith Stinson and Emirson Devenie. Stinson scored eight points, while Devenie logged four minutes.
» READ MORE: St. Joseph’s guard Gabby Casey has emerged as a ‘multidimensional’ player
Statistical leaders
Gabby Casey, the Hawks’ leading scorer, did not play due to an injury.
With Casey sidelined, Rhian Stokes led the Hawks with 15 points and went 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Kaylinn Bethea and Emily Knouse, both freshman guards, added 12 apiece off the bench
Bethea was 4 of 5 from the field, while Knouse hit four three-pointers as St. Joseph’s tried to mount a fourth-quarter comeback.
“Just to see both of them put up numbers today was really awesome,” said Hawks coach Cindy Griffin. “It’s just important. We need to have a punch off the bench.”
Doogan led Richmond with her second-best scoring performance of the season, pouring in 35 points on 9-for-16 shooting. The senior forward made all 14 free throws.
Spiders scuttle away
After taking a six-point lead into halftime, Richmond began the third quarter on an 11-4 run to build its lead to 13. The Spiders had a 49-35 lead, their largest lead of the game, with 1 minute, 49 seconds to play in the third quarter.
But St. Joe’s mounted a comeback in the fourth behind a three-point barrage from Knouse.
Knouse knocked down 4 of 8 three-pointers in the fourth quarter, including a three from the left wing, which cut Richmond’s lead to six with 4:38 remaining.
But Doogan kept the Hawks at bay with a 12-point quarter of her own. Doogan hit seven foul shots in the final quarter to seal a win for the Spiders.
“I thought they all really stepped up today, and they needed to,” Griffin said. “We just needed a little bit more.”
Tournament time
St. Joe’s finished its season tied with La Salle for the fifth-best record in the A-10 at 10-8.
Thanks to two regular-season wins over the Explorers, the Hawks hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with La Salle and will enter the A-10 tournament as the No. 5 seed.
“I like where we are, and it’s a new season,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t matter what your record is, who you beat, who you didn’t beat. It’s a new season, and I think it’s a good place to be.”
St. Joe’s will have a bye in the tournament’s first round, which consists of two games between the bottom four teams.
The Hawks will face the winner of a first-round game between Duquesne and Virginia Commonwealth in the second round on Thursday(1:30 p.m., ESPN+). The A-10 tournament will begin on Wednesday at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Henrico, Va.