Hens fall to St. Joe's as Delle Donne watches from the bench

With All-American Elena Delle Donne watching from the bench, the Hens let St. Joseph's get out to an early lead and, despite a late rally, could not recover.

The 50-45 non-conference loss Wednesday night, the first part of a women's-men's doubleheader at the Bob Carpenter Center, dropped the Hens to 6-3 for the season.

"Our offensive execution was not good," Head Coach Tina Martin said. "We took some ill-advised shots, and that's frustrating from my perspective."

In the first half, the Hens shot just 7-31, and St. Joseph's took a 6-point lead early in the game.

The Hens tied the game with 8:47 left in the first half when sophomore forward Danielle Parker hit a jumper, but the Hawks pulled away again, and the Hens trailed for the rest of the game.

In the second half, St. Joseph's led by as much as 16. Late in the half, the Hens, led by sophomore guard Jaquetta May, rallied to within 3 but still fell short.

May came off the bench to score 14 points, all in the second half, making her the team's highest scorer of the night.

The Hens played without their star forward Delle Donne for the second time this season, as the sophomore was once again dealing with fatigue.

"She called me a half an hour before shoot-around," Martin said. "I had no idea. She said ‘I don't feel well today, coach. I don't think I can go.' And that was that."

Martin said she was pleased with her team's play toward the end of the game, but disappointed by performance early.

"At some point these kids have got to take ownership and really step up and get going from the get-go," she said. "It's almost like we wait for everyone's first punch and then we try to respond. And that's not how you play the game."

Junior center Sarah Acker said Delle Donne's absence meant the rest of the team needed to step up and play harder.

"She does a lot for our team, so when she's out, everybody just has to pick it up," Acker said.

For Acker, the game had special significance because she played at St. Joseph's her freshman year before leaving for personal reasons, taking a year off from basketball and then transferring to Delaware.

"I remember a lot of things from when I was at St. Joe's," she said. "They were calling plays out, and I knew them."

The Hens' next game will be Dec. 29 when they take on Vanderbilt as part of the Hilton Garden Hokie Classic in Blacksburg, Va. They will return home Jan. 2 to begin conference play against Hofstra.