St. Joe’s got back to winning ways and is again tied for first in the A-10. This senior is a big reason why.
In her first career start, Paula Maurina led the Hawks with a career-high 19 points.
St. Joseph’s came out ready to learn from its loss to VCU on Wednesday and fight its way back into the win column.
That loss, its third of the season, bumped the Hawks (25-3, 14-2 A-10) down to second in the Atlantic 10, but they still have their sights set on a double bye in the looming conference tournament. They took a step toward that goal Saturday with a 72-67 win over Rhode Island.
“We have five teams that could finish one through four,” head coach Cindy Griffin said. “I think this is a multiple-team league from a national standpoint.”
St. Joe’s also got an assist from George Mason, which beat Richmond on Saturday to once again create a tie between the Spiders and Hawks atop the A-10. The top four seeds will get a bye into the quarterfinals of the tournament, which runs from March 6-10 in Henrico, Va. Behind St. Joe’s and Richmond at 14-2, Mason, Duquesne, and VCU are deadlocked at 13-3.
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Saturday’s victory over Rhode Island was no easy feat for St. Joe’s, however.
A team prone to slower starts and fast-paced second halves, St. Joe’s has, however, jumped ahead early in its past two games but struggled to maintain its lead.
Just as was the case against VCU, St. Joe’s found itself leading at halftime after an explosive second quarter.
But Rhode Island was not going down without a fight and used a 10-0 run to cut its deficit to just two with 1 minute, 20 seconds left. Rams leading scorer Dee Dee Davis (19 points) hit a three to make it a one-point game with 17 seconds left, but Talya Brugler hit a quartet of free throws to seal the win.
“We emphasized that we just needed to learn from it, grow from it, and then move to the next team,” said Brugler, who finished with 17 points and a game high-tying seven rebounds. “We had some really good practices strung together, and then we just did a good job of executing the game plan, learning from the mistakes that we made against VCU, and not doing that again.”
Despite the intensity of the game’s ending, the Hawks never wavered.
“We were familiar with the situation and just knew that we needed to stay calm and execute what we were doing, and I think we did a good job of that,” Brugler said.
The Hawks also were without a key player in Laura Ziegler, who missed the game because of an injury. That meant senior Paula Maurina got her first career start.
“I’m ready to do whatever it takes to win, whatever role Coach wants me to fill,” Maurina said. “Today, the role was a little bit bigger.”
And Maurina certainly filled that role, pacing the Hawks with 19 points in a performance that was fitting for the forward’s senior day. But Griffin called Maurina’s performance offensively “just icing on the cake.”
“She was unbelievable [today],” Griffin said. “Defensively, she did a wonderful job in the paint just limiting the other team’s touches.”
For Maurina, it came back to her willingness to do whatever it took to win.
“Defense is a lot about effort and how much effort you put into what you’re doing,” Maurina said. “I just tried to execute the game plan that the coaching staff had talked to us about.”
The top four seeds in the A-10 tournament are still up in the air, but the Hawks are ready for the next step and will welcome Fordham to Hagan Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m.)
“It is going to be a very dynamic finish for all of us, and we’re excited to finish, but we also got to get little things cleaned up a little bit too and get ready for Fordham on Wednesday,” Griffin said.