Women’s basketball commemorates successful campaign

It’s taken a while for us to get these pictures onto the site, but here’s all the action from the 34th annual women’s basketball banquet.

Brittany Ford is awarded a commemorative basketball by Coach Cindy Griffin for her 1,000th point.

The team poses for a picture with their letterman gifts.

Assistant coach Stephanie McCaffery poses with senior guard Amy Gillespie and her Loyalty and Leadership Award. Other award recipeints included Michelle Baker for the Roosevelt Hunter Community Service Award, Katie Kuester for the Patricia Ryan Unsung Hero Award, and Shelby Smith for the Reverend Emory Ross Academic Excellence Award.

An emotional Djouara accepts the Chris DiJulia Inspirational Award from assistant Coach Sue Moran and Chris DiJulia, himself.

Moran gives Ashley Logue her award as Most Improved Player. The center also picked up the Big 5’s Most Improved Player honor.

Chris Day presents Brittany Ford with the award for Best Offensive Player.

Gillespie also takes home Best Defensive Player honors, much to her surprise.

Logue takes home the big prize of the night as the team’s Most Valluable Player, awarded by head coach Cindy Griffin.

Mariame Djouara is recognized for her 1,000 career points in her college career, both at St. Joe’s and South Plains Junior College.

Director of Athletics Don DiJulia shares his comments on the team.

Jack Jumper of Athletic Communications was the emcee for the night.

Hawk women drop thriller to Temple, 58-56

The Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team faced off against Atlantic 10 rival Temple tonight at the Hagan Arena. Despite their best efforts at a late comeback, however, the Hawks found that they once again could not beat Temple, losing on a last-second shot by a score of 58-56.

In the first half, Temple (16-6, 5-2 A-10) opened up an early lead. What didn’t help the Hawks (11-11, 4-3 A-10) out was that they could not seem to handle the basketball tonight, missing passes and experiencing problems simply dribbling the ball. What also hurt the Hawks was that reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Brittany Ford, ’10, tweaked something in her leg and was sidelined for most of the first half. When combined with the fact that the Hawks were out-rebounded 19-12, 8-1 in offensive rebounds, the Hawks found themselves going into halftime trailing 32-25.

Liveblog: St. Joe’s Women’s Basketball vs. GW

3:57: With final box score in hand, it’s clear to see who today’s star was. Brittany Ford absolutely dominated the second half, finishing with 23 points overall, going 10-13 from the floor and 3-3 from the line. Both Logue and Djouara had better games than against La Salle, and Ashley Prim even began to heat up in the second half. With momentum in their favor, the Hawks will now face Temple on Tuesday night to try and extend their winning streak to 3. On a side note, this was head coach Cindy Griffin’s 200th win as head coach of the Hawks.  From the Hagan Arena on a snowy, windy afternoon, this is Tom Hagan signing off with the Hawks beating George Washington by 63-47.

3:51: And that’ll do it for the Hawks. St. Joe’s gets a healthy 16 point win over GW, 63-47. Be back with a wrapup in a little bit.

3:49: Prim forces a turnover with Baker now in the game. Wilson picks up the rebound on a Prim miss, but Gillespie picks up the Allums miss. Ford again adds to her point total today, and the Hawks are now up 63-47.

3:47: Prim again hits two free-throws on a foul, and on the other end Logue draws her third foul of the game. Shelton hits both FTs to cut the lead to 14.

3:45: Prim knocks down both free throws to give St. Joe’s a 57-42 lead. Myers knocks down a three to lower the lead to 12. Ford continues her dominant pace with another layup and it looks as little can stop the Hawks from winning today. Now, I’m no coroner, but I think it’s almost time to pronounce this game over.

Resilient Hawks deliver Dayton first A-10 loss

When the roller coaster ride finally ended, it was Mariame Djouara and her team who walked away with the win.

The Hawks squandered a 15-point lead and went down by as many as four late in the second before surging late to score a 68-62 upset of Dayton. Djouara led the way with a game-high 13 points and added eight rebounds to ice secure the win for St. Joe’s.

“Especially because  we know the next one is going to be on the road, and after losing a tough one to Temple, we knew this was the one we really, really needed to get,” said St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin. “I though we shot the ball real  well, obviously in the first half. Hopefully this is a stepping stone for us because it gave us a lot of confidence.”

The Hawks (9-9, 2-1 A-10) jumped on the Flyers early behind lights-out shooting from behind the arc, hitting seven threes in the first half as part of their second highest first-half total this year. They stretched the advantage to as high as 15, and entered the halftime break up 13, a margin that was only that close thanks to three late turnovers by St. Joe’s.

Women’s Basketball Practice Notes: 10/19

In the first installment of what we hope is going to be a weekly practice, here’s some observations from St. Joe’s women’s basketball practice this afternoon:

– After coming off an injury-riddled 2008-09 season, the Hawks are starting off this year with a few concerns already. Dominique Bryant, ’11, and Ashley Robinson, ’13, were both on the sidelines throughout the practice. Kelly Cavallo, ’12, turned an ankle during practice and had to be carried off by two assistant coaches; she spent the rest of practice with the leg elevated and iced, and no word was given yet on the extent of the injury. Mariame Djouara, ’10, also went down with leg cramps, but recovered to finish the day.

– The guard corps is fast, led by Djouara. Head coach Cindy Griffin stressed speed today during fast break drills, and told the team she believed they had the speed to cause problems.And Djouara, cramp or not, was tearing everyone else up in speed drills.

– First impression of the freshmen: Shelby Smith looks very comfortable in the point guard role. It may not be hers to start the season, but it will be in the not to distant future. Only problem with her is that it’s difficult the tell her and Katie Kuester, ’12, apart on the court sometimes. Ashley Prim lacks a height at 5′ 7″, but she carries herself like a tough, heady guard. My first impression was a huskier LaKiesha Eaddy (maybe a bit much this early). Mireia Vila looks like a fundamentally sound European player. She’s long and looks raw at this point, but the potential is pretty obvious.

-Matthew De George ’10