St. Joe’s snaps two-game losing streak with 83-69 win over George Mason
Four Hawks finished in double figures with junior Laura Ziegler pacing the team with a 23-point game.
The St. Joseph’s women’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 83-69 win over George Mason at home on Sunday evening.
After falling to Richmond and Rhode Island on the road, St. Joe’s went into Sunday on just its second losing streak of the season. The Hawks (21-6, 12-4 Atlantic 10) were sitting at fourth in the conference while George Mason (23-5, 13-4) was second. But by “putting the pieces together” offensively and defensively, the Hawks came out on top for an outcome coach Cindy Griffin said she was “very pleased with.”
“We’ve got great players, great coaches and great teams that deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament. And, hopefully that was displayed today,” Griffin said. “We know that it’s tough, but why not us? Right? Why not us? Why not the Atlantic 10? And we’ve proven that we go out and play people, we go out and we’re winning games, and that we’re getting the competition every night.”
Despite playing tight defense in the first half, St. Joe’s was unable to take more than a narrow lead over the Patriots. But an 11-2 run across the last 2½ minutes of the first half gave the Hawks an 11-point lead at the break.
But the third-quarter slump got the best of the Hawks once again as a 15-2 George Mason run during a four-minute stretch brought the Hawks lead down to five.
“They did a really good job taking away the inbounder, and then it was a little hard for the guy to see over top of the double team,” Griffin said. “But once we settled in, we were able to stay in attack mode and really take advantage of those advantage breaks.”
The Hawks managed to regain their footing in the fourth quarter and run away with the game. Four Hawks finished in double figures with junior Laura Ziegler’s 23 points pacing the team. Senior Talya Brugler followed with 18 points, marking her best game since her return to play after missing six games with a hand injury. Senior Mackenzie Smith and sophomore Aleah Snead had 11 points each. With her performance, Brugler moved into fifth in all-time scoring for the program.
“She was just waiting to burst, and I think today was really, really great for her confidence level,” Griffin said. “It was just great to see her out there, just playing with a lot of poise and a lot of confidence.”
For the Patriots, Zahirah Walton finished with a game-high 28 points, followed by 16 from Paula Suarez.
With two games left in the regular season, St. Joe’s, now third in the A-10, will once again hit the road to face Dayton on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+) before a rematch against first-place Richmond, at home on Saturday. Griffin is hoping her team’s best basketball is still to come.
“They know that, you know what’s on the line, as far as you know, the seeding and all that stuff. And they also just want to play well,” Griffin said. “We want to be playing our best basketball in this last week heading into the tournament.”