St. Joe’s Big Three has been consistent all season, but a freshman turned heads Friday vs. Howard
Laura Ziegler, who had a triple-double, Mackenzie Smith, and Talya Brugler are key to the Hawks' 8-2 start. But head coach Cindy Griffin was impressed with Rhian Stokes, who had a career day.
Before Laura Ziegler’s performance against St. Francis on Nov. 27, it had been almost 36 years since a St. Joseph’s women’s basketball player recorded a triple-double. It took less than a month for Ziegler to have another.
The junior forward put up 10 points, 10 assists, and 11 rebounds in the Friday afternoon’s 69-53 win over Howard in the first game of the Hawk Classic at Hagan Arena.
But Ziegler’s performance was just one of many big moments for St. Joe’s.
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The Hawks, who were ninth nationally in assists per game entering Friday, had 20 assists on 27 makes.
They know how to share the ball. That much is clear. But more than anything, it’s the consistency the starting five has displayed that fueling the 8-2 start.
St. Joe’s is entered Friday as the No. 3 team nationally in three-point percentage and free-throw percentage, though those rankings could dip after a 6-of-21 outing from beyond the arc and 9-of-14 from the line.
Individually, Ziegler is top 10 in the nation in defensive rebounds, while senior Mackenzie Smith is among the top 10 in three-point percentage. Four Hawks (Smith, Ziegler, Talya Brugler, and Gabby Casey) average double figures, and least three players have finished in double figures every game.
Now, it’s just a matter of improving its depth and keeping up the consistency.
A seven-point individual scoring run in the last 1 minute, 9 seconds of the third quarter helped stretch a four-point St. Joe’s lead to 11 and fuel Smith’s 19-point finish.
Brugler had a team-high 23 points, eight of which came in the first quarter, when only she and one other teammate, freshman Rhian Stokes, scored.
Stokes rounded out the double-figure scorers for St. Joe’s with a season-high 15 points off the bench. She also played a season-high 25 minutes.
Head coach Cindy Griffin described Stokes’ minutes as “so productive” so far.
“She really is productive, whether it be an assist orhitting open three or getting the ball to the right player and being really, really aggressive for us and getting into to areas on the floor that we need to get into,” Griffin said. “Just really impressed with her maturity, and she continues to get better every time.”
Stokes scored 15 of the Hawks’ 17 points from the bench, and Griffin hopes to see more from her reserves to round out the team’s consistency.
“You saw Aleah [Snead] come in and get to the free-throw line and score some buckets getting downhill. Kaylie [Griffin] came in and gave us good minutes. Paula [Maurina] came in and gave us good minutes,” Griffin said. “So I think that we’re trying to get more production from our bench as we go forward.”
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But Griffin added that the contributions she sees aren’t always reflected in the stats. Fifth-year Emma Boslet didn’t score in her 29 minutes on Friday, but Griffin still saw her do little things right.
“Emma Boslet did an unbelievable job on [Howard guard Destiny Howell] today,” Griffin said. “It gets unnoticed in the box score, because she doesn’t score a whole lot. But defensively, she does a really good job. She runs; she knows what we’re trying to do. Offensively, she’s got great court vision, and she communicates really well in those areas, and so that’s really great to see.”
Howell, who leads the Bison (6-7) in scoring with 15.8 points per game, was held to just nine, while Saniyah King finished with 23.
The Hawks will face College of Charleston (8-1) Saturday at Hagan Arena (1 p.m., ESPN+) in their nonconference finale.
“Playing back to back, we haven’t done that yet,” Griffin said. “It’ll be a big test for us.”