After Shocking Maryland, St. Joe's Women Focus On Syracuse
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It has been quite the start to the season for the St. Joe's women's basketball team. They are 2-1 here in the early going, with the two wins coming in their last two games. A buzzer-beating victory over an always tough Drexel squad was then followed up by a win for the ages - a 50-49 upset of then #5 Maryland on Saturday. Now the Hawks turn their attention to Syracuse who visits Hagan Arena Tuesday evening.
"It's been an unbelievable week," St. Joe's head coach Cindy Griffin tells KYW Newsradio. "I was proud of the way bounced even back from the Drexel win, because we were coming off such a high with a buzzer beater, so I was impressed. But I think we're focused, I think we're ready for tonight's game. They've gotten a lot of tweets and great accolades from that win, but it is time to move on."
LISTEN: Matt Leon interviews Cindy Griffin
Griffin does say that the win over Maryland really puts this year's squad on the map.
"I think this team has a lot to prove and I think that's the mentality that we had coming into this year," Griffin says. "Losing four seniors from a 22-win season last year - How are they going to rebuild? What's going to happen? So there were a lot of unknowns. I think it was important for this team to get an identity on the map, and I think that the wins this week certainly did that. But now it's a matter of sustaining that and building from that and then proving that we can do it every day."
Syracuse brings a 3-0 record into this game and Griffin says they have earned that spotless mark.
"Very talented. They are very, very deep. They start three freshman. The kids that they have coming off the bench are kids that played twenty-plus minutes last year for them. They were a Final Four WNIT team last year."
St. Joe's and Syracuse will tip-off at 5:00pm at Hagan Arena on Tuesday evening.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
