Feb. 24, 2006

Box Score

CINCINNATI - Senior All-American candidate Tara Boothe recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds and junior Suntana Granderson scored 22 to lead the Xavier University women's basketball team to a 63-52 overtime victory over Saint Joseph's on Friday evening at Cintas Center. With the win, XU improves to 19-7 overall and 10-5 in Atlantic 10 play. Saint Joe's slips to 17-9, 9-6.

Granderson scored the 1,000th point of her career with 12-minutes to go in the second half. She is the 19th Musketeer all-time to eclipse the 1000-point plateau.

By virtue of the win, Xavier secures a first round bye in next week's Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

The game marked XU's first overtime contest since the team fell at George Washington on February 2, 2005. The game also marked Xavier's first overtime win since March 5, 2004 when the Musketeers downed Fordham by a score of 63-57.

The Hawks led by seven points, 48-41, after Faith Schutte scored her 16th point of the night with four-minutes remaining in regulation.

Xavier answered though and rattled off seven straight points to knot the score up at 48. Granderson capped XU's 7-0 run when she drained a 3-pointer from the wing with 2:10 to go.

The Hawks regained the lead when Hillary Klimowicz converted on a lay-up with 1:30 to go but Miranda Green made her only field goal of the night count as she converted on a driving lay-up with only 40-seconds left.

After a big defensive stop on the ensuing possession, Green tried to end the game with a runner but her attempt bounced off the rim to send the game into overtime.

Xavier took care of business from the free throw line in the extra session, as the team went 13-for-16 from the charity stripe and held the Hawks to just two points (1-for-9 shooting) en route to the 63-52 victory.

Granderson's 22 came on 6-of-14 shooting including a 3-of-6 effort from beyond the 3-point arch. She was also a spotless 7-for-7 from the free throw line.

Boothe, who recorded the 36th double-double of her career, was 8-of-19 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe. She was a solid 6-of-10 from the field in the second half and scored 11-straight second-half points to keep Xavier in the game.

Sophomore Candyce Bingham was solid in the win, hauling in a career-high eight rebounds to go along with five points.

Xavier out-rebounded Saint Joe's 41-to-36 and shot a solid 52 percent (13-of-25) in the second half.

Xavier fell behind 8-5 six-minutes into the contest when Timisha Gomez connected on one of her two first-half 3-pointers. Xavier would take its first lead of the game when Boothe converted on an old-fashioned 3-point play at the 7:30 mark, giving the Musketeers a 14-11 edge.

XU would connect on only one field goal for the remainder of the half though and fell behind 22-16 at intermission.

Xavier will return to action when the team takes on Dayton on Sunday. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. at Cintas Center and will include a postgame ceremony to honor seniors Tara Boothe and Kristy Wallner.