St. Joe’s easy win over Albany sets up Big 5 WBIT clash with Villanova
Laura Ziegler led the Hawks with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
After rolling over the University of Albany in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, St. Joseph’s has secured another game in Hagan Arena.
The Hawks dropped their last home regular-season game to Richmond, and junior Laura Ziegler said she wants to see her senior teammates leave with a positive memory of their last game in their home arena.
That means advancing to the Final Four of the WBIT. But first, they’ll have to get revenge on a local rival.
The Hawks’ 69-40 win over the Great Danes sent them into the second round, while not too far down the main line, Villanova beat Boston College, 76-70, to advance as well.
Now, the two will meet for the second time this season in Hagan Arena. Last season, after beating Villanova in the regular season, the Hawks fell in the quarterfinals on the Wildcats’ home court. This season it was Villanova coming out on top in the regular season.
Ziegler said it’s “always fun” to play in a game against another Big 5 team.
“I really like playing tournaments like these, because we play a lot of people who haven’t played before,” Ziegler said. “It’s going to be the opposite for Nova. I don’t even know how many times I played through my three years here, but it’s always fun to get a rematch.”
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And with the familiarity between the teams, Ziegler knows it’s all going to come down to the little things.
“We always know about these Big 5 games, like they’re more physical than the other games we play,” she said. “We need to be more tough than they are.”
But it’s about more than just a rematch. It’s about giving the seniors who helped build the program’s culture of “selflessness and relentlessness” the opportunity to go out on top. Villanova is a stop on the way.
“It’s going as far as we can in this tournament, in the WBIT,” Ziegler said. “They’re great basketball players, all of them, but they really just contributed to building this program somewhere where you really just love being there and you want to go and show up every single day.”
St. Joe’s nearly 30-point win over Albany included double-figure scoring by four players, led by Ziegler with 16. Sophomore Aleah Snead followed with 14. Seniors Mackenzie Smith and Talya Brugler each had 11 points.
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Ziegler also had seven assists and grabbed 13 rebounds (the Hawks had 53 rebounds overall). Albany fifth-year Kayla Cooper had a game-high 22 points.
With their loss to George Mason in the Atlantic 10 tournament, the most recent game on their mind, the Hawks were looking to reset. But it’s the games that came before it in the A-10 tournament that Ziegler expects to draw on for Sunday.
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Pulling out an overtime win one day and a buzzer beater against the top seed the next, Ziegler said the Hawks are probably going to have a close game like those again. And just like with those games, Ziegler is focused on how her team will close it out.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a big blowout win, and it’s going to come down to the nitty grittys at the end,” Ziegler said. “We just did that in the A-10 tournament for two games, so we need to come back to that.”
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But for now, coach Cindy Griffin is enjoying her team’s dominant showing for a little longer.
“I want to enjoy this game tonight, and then we’ll reload for Sunday,” Griffin said. “We’ll figure it out. We have 48 hours to do it.”