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Friday, Mar. 17 6:05pm ET
St. Joe's never lets Texas' run-and-gun offense get in gear | |||||
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BOX SCORE
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- The luck of the Irish had nothing to do with St. Joseph's beating Texas in the first round of the NCAA women's tournament. It was all defense. Irish national team member Susan Moran celebrated St. Patrick's Day with 24 points and 13 rebounds, and St. Joseph's never let Texas' run-and-gun offense get in gear as the Hawks beat the Longhorns 69-48 Friday night.
St. Joseph's (25-5) will face the winner of Friday night's other first-round game in the West subregional between No. 2 seed Rutgers and No. 15 Holy Cross. "I think the score sums up what we were trying to do," St. Joseph's coach Stephanie Gaitley said. "We knew it was going to be a battle of tempo and a battle of wills and by the fact we kept them under 50 we won that battle." The key to eliminating Jody Conradt's seventh-seeded Longhorns (21-13) was St. Joe's matchup-zone defense. The 10th-seeded Hawks came in with the nation's second-best scoring defense (53.1 points), and neither Texas nor star Edwina Brown could do much against it. The Longhorns, who were averaging 75.2 points, made 19 of 47 shots (40 percent) and wound up with their second-lowest points total this season. Brown, who picked up her fourth foul with 10:33 to play, finished with 14 points, with only four in the second half. She was averaging 21.5. "I was second guessing my shots instead of penetrating and pulling up," said Brown, who was 7 of 15 from the field. "I was thinking about if I wanted to pass, and that's not so good of a thing for me." St. Joseph's of the Atlantic 10 put the game away with a 22-6 spurt that turned a 34-34 tie into a 56-40 lead with 5:53 remaining. Moran, whose home of Tullamore is right in the middle of Ireland, appropriately started the game-winning rally by scoring the first six points. Cheryl Kulesa helped finish off the run with seven straight points as the Hawks won for the 10th time in 12 games. "This is my best St. Patrick's Day," said Moran, who was 9 of 16 from the field. "I've never played on St. Patrick's Day before and this feels really good." While friends told the sophomore forward she would have the luck of the Irish, Moran played down that angle. "It's not luck we're here and it's not luck we won the game today," she said. "It's the blood, sweat and tears we put in all year that has us in that position, not the luck of the Irish. I enjoy St. Patrick's Day for what it is, but it's not lucky we won that game." Jana Lichnerova added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Angela Zampella had 12 points for St. Joseph's of nearby Philadelphia. The Hawks shot 53 percent from the field, 26 of 49, and outrebounded Texas 38-21. "I feel like I've been to basketball school and the first course was Rebounding 101," said Conradt, after seeing Texas eliminated in the first round for the second straight year. "I never saw a team box out and rebound better than St. Joe's did. Some of the bugaboos this team has fought all year raised their head again tonight. We were tentative and had a tough time getting in the flow." Texas looked good early, using a 14-4 spurt that featured five points by backup forward Lindsey Ryan and four by Brown in taking a 20-13 lead. St. Joseph's came right back and scored 16 of the next 22 points, hitting six of seven shots in one span. Moran had eight of her 15 points in the run that gave the Hawks a 29-26 lead. Four free throws put the Longhorns ahead 30-29 before Coleen McGahan hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to give St. Joe's the lead. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard St Josephs (Penn.) NCAA Team Report
AUDIO/VIDEO   Cheryl Kulesa bowls over two defenders for the hard bucket.avi: 474 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Jane Meade banks the easy jumper.avi: 691 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||
