Saint Joe's rallies to top VCU

TRAILING BY 10 with less than 11 minutes to play, Saint Joseph's fought back for a 55-50 victory over VCU Wednesday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Richmond, Va.

Speared-headed by junior guard Erin Shields' 16 points, the Hawks improved to 16-5, 7-0 in the Atlantic 10.

Down 37-27, the Hawks went on a 16-6 run to take their first lead since the middle of the first half on a jumper by senior forward Chatilla van Grinsven at 5:08.

The Hawks opened a 51-47 lead on a layup by junior forward Ilze Gotfrida with less than 2 minutes to play, but VCU's Jessica Pellechio buried a three-pointer to make it a 51-50 game with 1:03 to play.

Saint Joseph's failed to convert on its next possession, but a bad turnover gave the ball back to SJU. At midcourt, the Rams' Carleeda Green dropped off a bounce pass to Pellechio, only to have the ball bounce off Pellechio's knee and over the time line to give SJU the ball with less than 25 seconds in the game.

After three VCU fouls, Shields calmly hit both ends of a one-and-one, and after a steal, sealed the game with two more free throws with 2.9 seconds left.

* At Charlotte, Temple shot just 5-for-24 in the second half, going without a basket for the final 12 minutes and without a point for the final 9 in a 66-43 Atlantic 10 loss to the 49ers.

Victoria Macaulay scored 15 points to lead the Owls (10-12, 3-4 A-10) before fouling out with nearly 6 minutes left.

Natasha Thames came up with a career-high 15 rebounds for Temple, along with eight points for the Owls.

Ny Hammonds scored a game-high 16 points to lead Charlotte (17-4, 6-1).

* At La Salle, Shanel Harrison led La Salle with 13 points and Ebonee Jones chipped with 11 but the Explorers fell to Fordham, 69-49, in Atlantic 10 play Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers (7-15, 3-4 A-10) drop to 7-15 (3-4 Atlantic 10), while Fordham improves to 16-6 (6-1 Atlantic 10).