Saint Joseph's Women's Basketball Falls At George Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team got a game-high 26 points from senior guard Natasha Cloud, but it wasn't enough Wednesday night as the Hawks fell at George Washington, 83-69.

The Colonials (13-2, 2-0 A-10) controlled the pace of the game from the tip as they ran out to an 11-0 lead over the opening five minutes. George Washington hit 4-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the foul line while it held the Hawks to 0-of-7 from the floor and caused four turnovers.

Falling behind 23-10 with under 11 minutes to play, Saint Joseph's slowly chipped away at the deficit. Led by Ciara Andrews and Cloud, the Hawks went on an 18-9 run to come within four, 32-28, on a fastbreak layup by Andrews with 3:42 to play. Saint Joseph's hit 6-of-7 from the floor and connected on 5-of-6 from the foul line to force a timeout by the Colonials.

Out of the timeout, George Washington regained control as it outscored SJU 11-2 to end the half and take a 43-30 edge into the second stanza.

The Hawks (5-9, 1-1 A-10) fell behind by as many as 20 in the second half, but clawed back to make it a 65-73 with under four minutes to play. Down 73-55, Saint Joseph's got a three-pointer from Kathleen Fitzpatrick to spark a 10-0 run as a Cloud hit one of her career-high four three-pointers to bring her team withing eight.

Saint Joseph's would have a chance to make it a two-possession game after getting a stop, but couldn't convert a pair of layups as the Colonials answered back with an 8-0 run to seal the win.

For the game, Saint Joseph's shot 39.1 percent (25-of-64), hit 8-of-20 from three-point range and 11-of-15 from the foul line (73.3 percent).

Individually, Cloud was 9-20 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc, and 4-of-5 from the foul line to go with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. Andrews added 17 points, while Fitzpatrick was the third Hawk in double figures with 14 points.

At the other end, the Colonials were 34-75 from the field (47.3 percent), 3-of-15 from three-point range and 10-of-18 from the foul line (55.6 percent). Caira Washington had 23 points to lead GW, while Jonquel Jones finished with 14 rebounds and 16 points.

Saint Joseph's returns to action this Saturday when it hosts Massachusetts at 2 p.m.