The Hawks Down the George Mason Patriots 83 – 69
PHILADELPHIA, PA 2/23/2025 –
A crucial win for the Saint Joseph’s Hawks women’s basketball team. The George Mason Patriots visited the Hagan Arena, a team that sat in front of the Hawks in the Atlantic 10 standings. A chance for St. Joe’s to see where they stood in the league. And the Hawks wanted to break a two-game losing streak. In front of a loud enthusiastic crowd of 1.674, team autograph day, Saint Joseph’s came out ready to play and posted an 83 – 69 win over Mason. SJU is now tied for third place in the conference with Davidson, a half-game behind GMU for second place.
Laura Ziegler and Talya Brugler led the Hawks in scoring getting 23 and 18 points. Patriots forward Zahirah Walton led all scorers with 26 points.
Match Up of Two Top A10 Teams
Coming into the end of the season, thoughts turn to standings, seeding in the conference tournament, and potential postseason bids. George Mason is holding second place. St. Joe’s needed to show they can play with or outplay Mason.
“It comes down to this week and next week,” said Saint Joseph’s Coach Griffin. “We’re playing the top of our league. It’s just going to help us when we get into the A 10 tournament. We’re all fighting for that double bye. But you’re not done with the double bye. That’s not going to be the answer to everything.”
The Hawks came out strong and never trailed. At halftime the lead was 40 – 29 and expanded their edge to 20 points at the 7:23 mark on a layup by Hawks forward Laura Ziegler.
Saint Joseph’s Responded to the George Mason Run
Mason was not going away quietly, and ramped up the defensive pressure, and got to within a possession at 58 – 55 early in the fourth quarter behind a 22 – 5 run. Saint Joseph’s adjusted to score the next ten points to reestablish control. The lead would never shrink below double digits.
“They put the press on. We got a little bit crazy, but we were able to settle in a little bit and just give a different look on the press offense,’ Griffin said. “But once we settled in, we were able to stay in attack mode and really take advantage of those advantage breaks.”
What the Numbers Say
Brugler made 5 of 9 from the field, 2 of 3 from distance, and was good on 6 of 8 free throws. Brugler moved into fifth place in all-time scoring with 1,655 points. This is her best scoring game since coming back from injury.
“Thank goodness, right?” Griffin said. “She was just waiting to burst. And I think today was really, really great for her, for her confidence level. It’s just great to see her out there just playing with a lot of poise and a lot of confidence.”
Ziegler was good on 10 of 18 from the floor and took down 8 rebounds. This is her 26th double-digit scoring game of the season. She added 5 assists and has 119 for the campaign, the most by a forward in in a single season. Mackenzie Smith and Aleah Snead both added 11 points.
The Hawks assisted 21 times on 30 field goals. This game is the 12th time this season handing out at least 20 assists.
Mason is a good three-point shooting team averaging over 7 made three’s per game. Today, the Patriots made only 3 of 10. In terms of turnovers GMU forces 11 per game, fourth in the nation, and had a plus margin of 8.48. Saint Joseph’s would take care of the basketball and had 8 miscues compared to 14 for George Mason.
Paula Suarez was the only other Patriots player to score in double figures getting 16 points.
Up Next
St. Joe’s has two regular season games remaining, Mason (23 – 5, 13 – 4) has one hosting Duquesne.
Saint Joseph’s (21 – 6, 12 – 4) goes to Dayton and wraps up against Richmond. The objective is to play your best basketball at this time of year, and earn a postseason reward.
“We’ve got great players, great coaches and great teams that that deserve to play in the in the NCAA tournament,” Griffin said. “Hopefully that was displayed today. We know it’s tough. We know that it’s tough, but why not us? Right? Why not us? Why not the Atlantic 10?”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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