MILWAUKEE --- Hannah Swiatek tied her career high with 23 points and the University of St. Francis used a late 12-2 run to rally for a 72-69 victory over University of Saint Francis (Ind.) to close out the Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.) NAIA Franciscan Cup on Saturday afternoon.

USF went 1-1 at the two-day tournament and is now 2-1 on the young campaign.

The Saints looked to be in control to start the game, scoring the first seven points of the contest and shooting 68.8 percent in the opening ten minutes – including 5-of-7 from three-point range – to build a 27-16 lead at the stop.  Head coach John McGinty's club would eventually extend that advantage to as high as 16 points (32-16) with an 8-0 run that started late in the first quarter and ended nearly two minutes into the second quarter.

USF, however, went through a dryspell in the third quarter, missing nine shots in a row to allow Saint Francis (Ind.) back in the game.  The Cougars went on a 15-2 burst over that five-minute span to turn a 47-36 disadvantage into their first lead of the afternoon at 51-49.

The Saints finally recovered on Swiatek's layup with 12 seconds remaining to send the contest into the fourth quarter tied at 51-all.

The lead would exchange hands five times in the first four minutes of the final stanza with Saint Francis (Ind.) taking its biggest lead of the afternoon at 64-49 with 4:12 remaining.

Enter Justene Charlesworth, whose back-to-back three-pointers and two free throws single-handedly gave the Saints the lead back with 2:48 to play and they would never trail again.  Charlesworth's run started a stretch of 12 points for USF to Saint Francis' two to put the Saints up by five points with 31 seconds to play.  Braxtin Mickens also had a clutch three and a free throw as part of the run.

Mickens was one of five Saints to total at least eight points.  She finished as USF's second-leading scorer with 15 points, while gaining top team honors in rebounds with eight.  Charlesworth added 14 points with eight coming in the final quarter.  She also provided three steals.

Other contributors included C'Erra Maholmes with ten points off the bench and Jordan Pyle with eight points and four assists.

Swiatek shot 10-of-15 from the field en route to her team-high scoring honors.  She also tied for the club lead in assists with four.

Saint Francis (Ind.) boasted a pair of 20-point scorers in Reganne Pate (24 points) and Cassidy Crawford (21).  The latter also posted a double-double with her 11 rebounds. 

The Cougars shot 53.1 percent from the field (26-of-49) for the game with 11-of-19 treys (57.9 pct.), but were just 46.2 percent at the foul line (6-of-13).  The Saints countered with readings of 45.8 percent from the field (27-of-59), 30 percent on three-point attempts (9-of-30) and conversion on 9-of-13 free throws (69.2).

Notes: Prior to Charlesworth and Mickens hitting the final three trey attempts of the game, the Saints went 1-for-20 from beyond the arc after the red-hot 5-for-7 start … Another crucial piece to the victory was USF's 16-6 advantage in points off turnovers and its 34-25 victory on the boards … Swiatek's previous 23-point performance came on Feb. 22, 2022 against Holy Cross College … The Saints are back home on Wednesday to open Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play against Calumet College of St. Joseph.  Tipoff is 5 pm.   

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