Rhode Island Starters
Williams, Foppossi, Cairns, Elmore Tahane

Saint Joseph's Starters
Brugler, Nystrom, Fair, Jekot, Smith

How it Happened
A rough third quarter led to a stunning loss for Rhode Island, as the second-seeded Rams fell to seventh-seeded Saint Joseph's 51-48 Friday in the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals.

URI (22-6) led 25-21 at the half after limiting the Hawks (13-16) to just six points in the second quarter. However, Saint Joseph's opened the second half with a 13-2 run and outscored the Rams 20-8 in the period. The Hawks – who were 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half – made four 3-pointers in the third quarter and shot 8-of-12 overall to carry a 41-33 edge into the last 10 minutes.

Rhode Island scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to get within one point. Chanell Williams started the run with a steal and layup, and Emmanuelle Tahane scored five straight to make it 41-40. However, Saint Joseph's never relinquished the lead. A missed free throw by Katie Jekot gave Rhode Island a chance to tie on the final possession, but a 3-point attempt by Dolly Cairns went off the rim and a second last-second attempt was not able to get off before the buzzer.

Inside the Box Score

• Saint Joseph's had 19 assists on 21 field goals.
• Freshman forward Laila Fair had 17 points for the Hawks to lead all scorers.
• Redshirt senior Emmanuelle Tahane led Rhode Island with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. She also had six rebounds.
• Redshirt junior Marie-Paule Foppossi had 11 points and six rebounds.
• Graduate transfer Dez Elmore and sophomore Dolly Cairns each had 10 points.
• All of Cairns' points came in the first half.
• Saint Joseph's was 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half. Rhode Island was 0-for-8 from deep in the second half.  
• Rhode Island had four turnovers in the first four minutes of the game, then had just eight the rest of the way.
• Saint Joseph's was 8-for-12 from the floor in the third quarter when it outscored Rhode Island 20-8.
• The Hawks were 13-of-32 for the other three quarters combined.
• After shooting 7-for-13 in the first quarter, the Rams were 14-of-41 for the remainder of the game.
• The lower seed has won four of the first seven games of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
• The tournament is being held in the CHASE Fieldhouse, home of the NBA G League's Delaware Blue Coats.

Up Next
Rhode Island will now wait to learn its postseason fate. The fields for both the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship and the WNIT will be announced Sunday, March 13.