The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team travelled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania., to face Conference member Duquesne University last Thursday, Jan.15. Duquesne hit the ground running, scoring the first five points of the game and led 13-6 before SLU’s Sadie Stipanovich hit a jump shot, and Jamesia Price successfully scored a layup to bring the Billikens within three points.
Unfortunately, the Billikens could not keep the momentum going, and the tide shifted back to Duquesne who went on a 23-1 run. The first half ended with the Billikens down 39-18.
SLU slowly worked their way back in the second half, bringing the score to 53-42 with 9:21 left in regulation time, but the Dukes scored the next five points, resulting in a 77-64 loss for the Billikens.
SLU’s offensive leader, Price, scored a career high of 19 points, with 4 three-points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jackie Kemph also had an impactful performance with 10 points and 7 assists, paired with Stipanovich’s 9 points and 3 blocks, but it was not enough to overcome Duquesne’s dominating offense that had five players who scored in the double figures.
The women’s team returned to Chaifetz for their game on Sunday, Jan. 18, against new A-10 Conference member Davidson. The Wildcats led 11-4 early in the first half, but the Billiken defense buckled down, holding Davidson scoreless for 10 minutes. The offense stepped up as well, going on a 14-0 run, which allowed them to gain an 18-11 lead.
The first half ended with a 23-18 SLU lead and the Billikens carried the momentum into the second half. The Billikens dominated on offense to secure a 30-18 lead with 16:51 left in the game. Davidson clawed their way back into the game hitting a jumper and back to back 3-pointers to make the score 30-26. The Billikens retaliated with an 11-5 run to make it 41-31 with 8:32 left in the second half.Thanks to a 3-pointer from forward Hannah Early, Davidson went on another 22-9 run, which resulted in a comeback win for the Wildcats.
Denisha Womack lead the Billiken offense with 10 points and 8 rebounds, while Hannah Early had a stellar game for Davidson with 17 points, shooting 50 percent behind the 3-point line. Early was a key component in the comeback for the Wildcats, with 14 out of her 17 points coming in the second half, and her last 3-pointer ignited the run that destroyed the Billiken’s lead. SLU fell to 8-10 on the season, and 1-4 in the conference. The women’s team will try to recover from these losses before traveling to Philadelphia to play La Salle on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Saint Louis University traveled to Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to play La Salle (10-8) in a game that would improve their losing A-10 record. SLU guard Kemph had a big first half for the Billikens scoring 12 points, hitting four out of her six shots with three baskets coming from behind the 3-point line. SLU outscored La Salle 35-18 in the first half, but the Explorers gained some ground early in the second half scoring 7 points compared to SLU’s 2 at the 16:32 mark. The Billikens pulled away from La Salle, and gained their largest lead of the game with 10:38 left on the clock and a score of 57-33. SLU did not slow down, and extended their lead to 30 points with 6:38 left in the game. The Explorers could not recover, and the game ended with a score of 76-47, improving the Billikens to 9-10 on the season and 2-4 in the A-10. Kemph led the SLU offense with 20 points followed by center Stipanovich, who contributed 13 points. The women’s team will be back at Chaifetz on Saturday, Jan. 24 to play A-10 opponent Fordham (14-5) at 3 p.m.
