Women's College Basketball: St. Joe's wins tournament and posts 700th victory

The St. Joseph's women cruised to a milestone victory Wednesday afternoon, easily beating Lafayette, 75-40, to win their own Hawk Classic at Hagan Arena.

The win, the seventh straight for the Hawks (10-3), was the 700th in the history of the program dating to Jan. 20, 1974, when associate athletic director Ellen Ryan coached St. Joseph's to a 67-30 win over Manor.

The Hawks became the 31st women's team in NCAA Division I to reach 700 wins.

St. Joseph's had barely survived its opener Tuesday, edging New Hampshire in the final seconds before dominating the Leopards (6-7).

"We came in focused, today, we really did a nice job on defense, and we finally put a team away," Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said.

Freshman Ilze Gotfrida scored a career-high 20 points for the Hawks, while Katie Kuester earned MVP honors by scoring 19 points and hitting 5 of 7 three-pointers.

Villanova 57, Siena 50 - The Wildcats (6-6) nearly squandered a 23-point lead before holding off the Saints (1-8) in the opener of the Fordham Classic in New York. Rachel Roberts scored 18 points and Lindsay Kimmel scored 17 for the winners, who will meet Yale Thursday at 3 p.m.

Penn 66, St. Francis, N.Y., 38 - Freshman Alyssa Baron scored a career-high 23 points for the Quakers (4-5) in a nonconference win over the host Terriers (1-9).

Liberty 75, La Salle 53 - Ebonee Jones had a career-high 20 points and Ashley Gale scored 19 for the Explorers (4-8) in a loss to the Flames (5-7) in the consolation game of the Terrapin Classic in College Park, Md.

Maryland 66, St. John's 60 - Diandra Tchatchouang scored 19 points as No. 18 Maryland (12-1) beat No. 17 St. John's (12-2) to win the Terrapin Classic.

Texas A&M 74, Drexel 45 - Danielle Adams scored 20 points as the seventh-ranked Aggies (10-1) rolled in the Surf 'N Slam tournament in San Diego. Kamile Nacickaite scored 11 points and Jasmina Rosseel 10 for Drexel (7-3).

UConn-Stanford showdown. Top-ranked Connecticut owns a 90-game winning streak that started after a loss to Stanford in the 2008 NCAA semifinals. The ninth-ranked Cardinal have their own impressive streak: 51 consecutive victories on their home floor in Maples Pavilion.

On Thursday night, one of those runs will end as the Huskies (12-0) and the Cardinal (8-2) square off in Stanford, Calif.