Feb. 28, 2010

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - Junior center Ta'Shia Phillips scored 25-points and r-junior forward Amber Harris posted the 38th double-double of her career to lead the No. 5 Xavier University women's basketball team to a 74-59 win in the team's regular-season finale at Fordham on Sunday afternoon. With the win, XU concludes the regular season with a 24-3 record, including a spotless 14-0 mark in Atlantic 10 play. Fordham slips to 8-21, 2-12.

"I'm happy we won and I'm happy we're 14-0 but it can't be just about winning," said head coach Kevin McGuff. "It's got to be about how we play this time of year and we played awful. Fordham played harder than we did. I'm disappointed that we played like that in a game this time of the year."

XU's 24 regular-season wins is tied for the third most in program history. XU won 25 regular-season contests in 2008-09 and 2000-01.

Ta'Shia Phillips' 25 came on an 11-of-12 shooting effort. She made her first 11 shots and was on pace to break XU's single-game field goal percentage record (1.000, 9-for-9) but she missed a jumper with under two minutes to go. Phillips hauled in 10 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots as well. The double-double was her sixth in-a-row.

Harris 12th double-double of the season via 14-points and 13-rebounds. Her stat-stuffing afternoon included three assists and three blocks.

Xavier looked like it would take care of business early and stormed out to a 10-0 lead after Harris made a layup at the 15:40 mark. Ta'Shia Phillips scored six points and Harris added four during the spurt.

However, Fordham battled all the way back and took a 32-31 lead after Kyara Weekes buried a 3-pointer at the 1:20 mark. Ta'Shia Phillips quickly answered with her 18th and 19th points of the game just 10-seconds later and Katie Rutan nailed a 3-pointer on the wing at the end of the second half to send XU into the locker room with a 36-33 edge.

Fordham closed the gap to two points in the early stages of the second half but an 11-4 run over 4:50 stretch gave XU some separation and the Musketeers were able to hold the Rams at bay for the remainder of the contest.

XU held the Rams to just 32.3 percent shooting on Sunday and connected on 50 percent of its field goal attempts. Xavier also held a resounding 49-to-28 advantage on the boards and a 48-to-13 edge in points in the paint.

Ta'Shia Phillips' 19 first-half points came on perfect 9-of-9 shooting and she also corralled five rebounds. XU held Fordham to 34.5 percent shooting but turned the ball over 12 times in the first half to allow FU to linger.

Xavier is back in action on Saturday, March 6 when the team competes in the 2010 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md. No. 1 Xavier will play either No. 8 Richmond or No. 9 Massachusetts in Saturday's Quarterfinal at 12 p.m.