PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1/10/2018 – It was a day for milestones as the Saint Joseph’s Hawks women’s basketball team improved their Atlantic 10 record to 3 – 1 with a 81 – 72 win over the Richmond Spiders at the Hagan Arena. In the contest senior forward Chelsea Woods reached the 1,000 point plateau, junior forward Sarah Veilleux tied a career-high with 25 points, and coach Cindy Griffin got her 150th conference win. She became the fourth coach in the Atlantic 10 conference to reach the number of victories.
Woods reached the magic number at the 8:28 mark of the fourth quarter on a layup. She finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds, her fourth consecutive double-double, and dished out 6 a team-high tying 6 assists.
“It felt unreal,” Woods said about the recognition from the crowd. “I scored the layup and was ready to get back on defense. I was excited to score a thousand.”
The Hawks were to establish an inside game especially early in the game. In the first two quarters the Haws made 17 of 32 from inside the arc, and their 12 offensive rebounds gave them a 17 – 2 edge in second chance points. For the game Saint Joe’s made 31 of 68 and took only 12 three-pointers making 5. The inside game allowed for outside shots and drives to the basket. Veilleux made half of her eight three-pointers and finished the game shooting 10 of 15 tying her career with of 25 points. She credits her teammates for her performance.
“I wouldn’t have had the shots I did if it wasn’t for Chelsea and Alyssa (Monaghan who also had 6 assists). We do a great job of finding each other.”
“It’s about playing unselfish, hitting the open man, cuts to the basket, said Griffin whose team had 25 assists. “We’ve gotten better about understanding our strengths.”
Saint Joseph’s outrebounded Richmond by a 49 – 29 margin and 20 – 12 on the offensive glass. Forward Adashia Franklyn had a game-high tying 11 rebounds to go along with Woods. Franklyn had another double-double scoring 13 points.
“We have gotten better in that category,” Griffin said. “We had the discipline to box out and being relentless. If we’re not shooting the ball well, you want to have more opportunities to shoot and get another possession. Over the last two games we’ve done a good job at that, and now the challenge is to maintain it.”
Saint Joe’s took control of the game in the second quarter. Holding a 5-point advantage the Hawks went on an 18 – 6 run and a 47 – 30 lead with just over a minute until intermission.
“I was proud of the way we came out to start the game and the fourth quarter, ” Griffin said. “I thought we were really aggressive. During the course of the game we made stops when we need to and we made shots when we needed to.”
Micaela Parson scored a team-high 21 points for Richmond. Sister Alex tallied 18 for the Spiders (7 – 10, 2 – 2).
The Hawks (8 – 8, 3 – 1) take to the road for a Saturday game with Massachusetts.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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