St. Joe’s battles from behind to seize a massive victory over Big 5 rival Villanova

After being handed its first loss of the season on Thursday against Utah, St. Joseph’s bounced back with a resilient 73-67 win against Big 5 rival Villanova.

Trailing for most of the first three quarters, and down 10 in the first half, the Hawks came from behind to return themselves to the win column, and more importantly, all but mathematically secure the women’s Big 5 title.

“I’m really, really very, very proud of our team showing a lot of resilience today, being relentless,” St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin said. “Just really proud of the way that the whole team stepped up and did what they needed to do against a very good team.”

Junior Mackenzie Smith paced St. Joe’s (9-1) with 21 points. Talya Brugler and Laura Ziegler added 16 points apiece, the second game in a row the trio led the Hawks in scoring.

Ziegler added 11 rebounds, for her fifth double-double of the season and the 13th of her career.

For the Wildcats, Lucy Olsen dropped a game-high 32 points and Christina Dalce followed with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Villanova freshman Maddie Webber added 10 points off the bench.

Villanova (6-3) led throughout the first half, but the two teams put up a pretty even showing, matching up well in the paint. The Wildcats took a five-point lead into the break, largely fueled by perimeter jumpers and clutch free throws at the line.

St. Joe’s kept the game tight throughout the third quarter, tying the game multiple times in the last two minutes, until eventually taking the lead to head into the final quarter. But Villanova made them work for the win, tying the game at 51 with 8:55 remaining and never letting the Hawks lead surpass five points until the final two minutes of the quarter.

“This group is tough. They’re very mentally tough, they’re physically tough, and I just didn’t think that we were giving everything that we could,” Griffin said. “I thought the mentality change, and we turned it up a notch defensively, and we’re capable of doing it. So, I think that’s certainly helped.”

Smith was the hero of the third quarter. She was directly responsible for 13 of the Hawks 23-point outburst in the third frame, putting up more points in that quarter than she did in the team’s previous game against Utah. In the same quarter, Ziegler netted a jumper to put the Hawks up by two, giving them their first lead of the game, and shifting the momentum in their favor.

Smith had just two points prior to the third quarter, and credited Griffin with the shift in her game.

“She looked at me in the timeout and told me to stop being emotional and start playing basketball,” Smith said. “That’s exactly what I tried to do.”

St. Joe’s will host New Hampshire as part of the annual Hawk Classic on Dec. 20 (11 a.m.).