Feb. 7, 2013

#A10WBB NOTEBOOK | STANDINGS | STATISTICS

WHAT'S ON TAP
(*denotes A-10 Conference game)

Thursday, February 7
*Rhode Island at Butler 7:00PM
*St. Bonaventure at Duquesne 7:00PM
*Xavier at Dayton 7:00PM
*UMass at Saint Louis CBSSN/9:00PM

Sunday, February 10

*VCU at St. Bonaventure 1:00PM
*Butler at George Washington 2:00PM
*Charlotte at Saint Joseph's 2:00PM
*Dayton at Fordham 2:00PM
*La Salle at Xavier 2:00PM
*UMass at Rhode Island 2:00PM
*Richmond at Duquesne 2:00PM
*Saint Louis at Temple 2:00PM

A-10 SCOOP- Charlotte's Jennifer Hailey and Fordham's Samantha Clark have been named the Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Basketball Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, the league office announced Monday.  This marks Hailey's second consecutive and third overall award for the season, while Clark also garners her third Rookie of the Week honor this season. Both student-athletes were recognized for games played during the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3.

- Charlotte did not allow a field goal for the final 12:21 and gave up just six more points, all at the foul line, in the next three minutes before shutting down Temple in the final stretch for a 66-43 victory Wednesday night in Atlantic 10 women's basketball action inside Halton Arena. The 49ers outscored the Owls 20-6 after their last made field goal and 12-0 in the ending 9:26 to clinch their sixth-straight win and pick up their first win in the series since the 2009 A-10 Tournament semifinals. It marks the 10th straight game in which an opponent has been held under 60 points, extending the school record. Foes have averaged only 49.8 points per game during the stretch.

- GW won the battle of the boards for the fourth straight game, outrebounding Richmond, 44-37. Despite shooting just 29.4 percent in the second half, the Colonials finished at 40.0 percent from the floor for the game while limiting the Spiders to 36.5 percent, including just 3-of-14 from three-point range. GW snapped an eight-game skid against Richmond, defeating the Spiders for the first time since 2008.

- Trailing by 10 with less than 11 minutes to play, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team fought back for a 55-50 victory over VCU Wednesday evening at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Speared on by junior guard Erin Shields' 16 points, the Hawks improved to 16-5 overall and 7-0 in the Atlantic 10. For the contest, Saint Joseph's shot 36.4 percent (20-og-55), including 31.6 percent from three-point range (6-of-19) and 81.8 percent from the foul line (9-of-11). Despite turning the ball over 17 times, the Hawks caused 20 VCU turnovers at the other end and held the Rams to 36 percent shooting (18-of-50) and 12.5 percent from behind the arc (2-of-16).

- The Billikens' win at Xavier was their fifth road triumph of the year. The last time SLU won that many road games was when the 2008-09 team finished the season with five. The win over Xavier was the Bills' first against the Musketeers in A-10 play, and it snapped a 14-game overall losing streak to Xavier. Xavier is the eighth opponent overall, and third A-10 opponent, that Saint Louis has held to fewer than 50 points this season. SLU recorded a season-high point total and a season-high victory margin in the Xavier game with four rebounds at Xavier.

WEDNESDAY (2/6) RESULTS

Fordham 69, La Salle 49

PHILADELPHIA- The Rams move to 16-6 (6-1 A-10) with the win, while La Salle falls to 7-15 (3-4 A-10) with the loss.

The Rams and Explorers played a back and forth affair over the game's first ten minutes, a span that saw seven lead changes and a handful of ties.

Up 16-15 with seven and a half minutes to go in the opening half, Fordham rattled off a little run to cushion its lead. Erin Rooney netted five points on a 9-0 Rams streak to move the score to 25-15 with just under four minutes to go until the break.

The two teams traded buckets over the remainder of the period and the Rams entered the intermission with a 31-21 advantage.

La Salle scored the second half's first five points in a matter of just 40 seconds, but the Rams took no time to respond with a run of their own.

Saint Joseph's 55, VCU 50

RICHMOND, Va. - Trailing by 10 with less than 11 minutes to play, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team fought back for a 55-50 victory over VCU Wednesday evening at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Speared on by junior guard Erin Shields' 16 points, the Hawks improved to 16-5 overall and 7-0 in the Atlantic 10.

Down 37-27, Saint Joseph's put together a 16-6 run as the Hawks took their first lead since the middle of the first half on a jumper by redshirt 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 two 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 and 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 on defense, sealed the game with two more free throws with 2.9 seconds left.

Charlotte 66, Temple 43 | CHARLOTTE HIGHLIGHTS | CHARLOTTE POSTGAME

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Charlotte's women's basketball team defeated Temple, 66-43. Unable to come up with anything on offense for a long stretch to close out the game, Temple suffered a tough loss at Charlotte (17-4, 6-1) on Wednesday night. Victoria Macaulay scored 15 points to lead the Owls (10-12, 3-4).

The game continued to swing back and forth, with the Owls coming within three points before trailing by eight near the three-minute mark.

The pace of the second half suffered with numerous fouls on both teams. The Owls were called for 10 in the first 11 minutes, while Charlotte had eight. Macaulay was pulled after getting her fourth foul at 5:40. The 49ers went to the line for 14 opportunities in that stretch, hitting 11 of them.

George Washington 57, Richmond 54 | GW HIGHLIGHTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Richmond was edged by GW, 57-54, Wednesday night at the Smith Center in a battle-tested game between the rivals. The Spiders fell to 12-12, 2-6 overall, while GW improved to 10-12, 4-4 overall.

The last minute of the game was action-packed, as Richmond held the narrow 54-53 edge with 52 seconds remaining, thanks to a Rachael Bilney three. Bilney missed a free-throw with 29 seconds left, but grabbed a steal setting up a Becca Wann free-throw with 24 seconds left.

The attempt hit the back of the rim and GW pulled down the offensive board and sprinted down the court for the go-ahead score, 55-54 with 11 seconds left. GW swiped a steal and had another layup to seal the win.

The Spiders started the second half on a 12-2 run, boosting its lead 39-34 at the 15:25 mark. Richmond mounted its second-half rally after finding itself down 32-27 at the break.

The game was close throughout, with both teams' largest lead at six points. The score was tied five times, and the lead changed hands 11 times.