WESTFIELD, Mass. – Senior forwards Mary Hyde and Shauna Sullivan tied for team-high honors with 16 points, and senior guard Devon Diliberto had 14 points, 10 rebounds, five and two steals to pace the University of Saint Joseph, CT, to a 70-64 non-conference women's basketball victory over Westfield State University on Thursday, Jan. 16.

Saint Joseph snapped a three-game losing streak to even its record at 7-7. Westfield State had its five-game win streak halted as it moves to 9-6.

After the team's exchanged five first-half leads and the Owls led 33-30 at halftime, the Blue Jays went on a 20-6 scoring spurt to start the second half to take a 50-39 lead with 11:13 remaining. An old fashioned 3-point play by Heather Framski capped a 7-0 run to give Saint Joseph its 11-point lead.

Westfield quickly got back into the game with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to five, 50-45, with 8:45 remaining.

Paced by timely shooting from the field and foul line, however, Saint Joseph never relinquished the lead to pull out the road victory.

Westfield closed to within a point twice in the closing minutes, but Sullivan responded with a baseline jumper and two free throws to put the Saint Joseph lead back to three points.

The Owls' final comeback attempt came when Jen Ashton nailed a 3-pointer off a steal for a 64-62 score with 30 seconds remaining. But the Blue Jays canned six consecutive free throws in the closing seconds.

In a key statistic, the visitors shot 44 percent from the field, while Westfield only shot 32 percent.

Ashton posted game highs of 21 points, 12 rebounds and four steals and also dished four assists. Ashton was only 5 for 17 from the field but she was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line.

Keri Doldoorian and Tayler Travis had 14 and 10 points, respectively for the Owls.

Sullivan also grabbed eight rebounds and Framski finished with nine points and seven boards.