Another week, another pair of wins for St. Joseph’s. Could AP Top 25 conversation come next?
The Hawks have run through their schedule and are the only Big 5 team sitting on a 20-win season. Make that 21 wins after they dispatched UMass on Saturday
For as dominant as St. Joseph’s has been, to continuously be on the outside looking in regarding the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll must be perplexing. Two losses aside, the Hawks have run through their schedule and are the only Big 5 team sitting on a 20-win season.
Make that 21 wins following a 77-67 victory Saturday against a bottom-feeding Massachusetts team that holds just one Atlantic 10 win (3-20, 1-10). It wasn’t a gimme game for the Hawks (21-2, 9-1) by any means, however, a telling sign of why, despite being such a dominant force this season, they still have a bit to prove.
One major factor Saturday was the absence of sophomore Laura Ziegler, part of a standout trio that features juniors MacKenzie Smith and Talya Brugler. It was Brugler who carried the load offensively with a game- and season-high 30 points, dropping 10 of 14 from the field and knocking down 9 of 11 free throws. Smith added 14 points, but certainly would like her team-high five turnovers erased.
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Even with those two finding their shots, UMass found far too many from distance, a driving force behind a game that was surprisingly close and saw the Minutewomen cut their deficit to just four with 2 minutes, 7 seconds to go before the Hawks regained control.
UMass knocked down half of its attempts from three (8-for-16) and shot 51.8% from the field. The Minutewomen outscored the Hawks, 20-16, in the second quarter and trailed by just four at halftime.
UMass was led by guard Alexsia Rose’s 22 points.
What’s it going to take?
St. Joe’s doesn’t necessarily need the ranking at this point. It’s early February, and the last time it lost was just six days into the new year against Richmond. Right now, bracketologists have the Hawks as the A-10′s automatic qualifier and a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which they could capture via an at-large bid.
So it’s not a tournament resumé that’s in question, but the Hawks’ dominance stacks up against the sport’s elite, despite not playing in a power conference. As of last week’s poll, the Hawks hadn’t received any votes, and there are multiple teams within the Top 25 with more than two losses (No. 24 North Carolina has six, as does No. 20 Utah, which beat the Hawks earlier this season).
It’s unlikely that this week’s wins will curry St. Joe’s any favor from voters. A Wednesday-night road win against middling Loyola Chicago (11-11, 5-6), and Saturday’s dogfight with lowly UMass won’t move the barometer.
If there was a question of whether St. Joe’s deserves to be included in the Top 25 conversation, it could come after this week’s run of games. The Hawks travel to northern Virginia, to face George Mason (18-3, 9-1), which is right on their heels in the A-10, on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSN). Both teams too currently boast an eight-game winning streak.
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Boding well for St. Joe’s in this one? How about its 11-0 road winning streak. The Hawks are the only team in the conference still unbeaten away from home.
A strong showing on the road against a tough Patriots group could kick-start that long-awaited notion that St. Joe’s deserves to be at least in the conversation when it comes to ranking the nation’s top Division I women’s basketball teams.