JOLIET, Ill. --- A trio of double-doubles from Le'lani Harris, Jordan Pyle and Alina Jahnke pushed the No. 4-seeded University of St. Francis women's basketball team to a 68-63 victory over No. 5 seed and rival Saint Xavier University in opening-round action of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday night at the Sullivan Center.  The tense see-saw affair featured seven ties and four lead changes.

Harris and Jahnke came up with their biggest efforts of the season on the night with the former posting a personal-best and game-high 23 points to go along with 12 rebounds.  Jahnke also notched her highest point total as a Saint with 18, while hauling in 10 rebounds and recording both three steals and three blocks.

Pyle was right in between the pair with her 19 points, 11 rebounds and team-high five assists.

Saint Xavier was led by Claire Austin with 16 points and eight boards.

The Saints (22-6) held their biggest lead of the night just two minutes into the contest, scoring the game's first seven points.  Saint Xavier, however, was quick to recover and took a 19-16 lead at the stop.

USF's biggest quarter came in the second when it totaled 20 points, 11 of which came from Harris on 4-of-5 shooting.  Nine of Harris' points also came after Saint Xavier (20-9) had built its biggest lead of the game at six points twice.  The two teams exchanged leads over the final four minutes with Saint Xavier still clinging to a 37-36 lead by halftime.

Despite no more than a seven-point lead in the second half for either team, it was St. Francis that led for all but 1:42 of the closing 20 minutes.  The Saints gained a one-point advantage after three quarters (49-48) before Pyle took control in the fourth.

The senior accounted for 11 of the team's 19 points and also hauled in four rebounds in the final stanza and helped the Saints regain the seven-point advantage that they first held at the start of the game.  Saint Xavier would get as close as 63-61 with just over two minutes to play but would only score one more basket the rest of the way, while the Saints managed three free throws and a basket down the stretch.

USF finished the night 25-of-58 from the field (43.1 pct.) to that of Saint Xavier's 24-of-62 mark (38.7 pct.).  Both teams managed three treys, while the Saints were three better at the free throw line (15-of-22 to 12-of-16).

Notes: Pyle's double-double was her team-leading eighth of the season, while Harris delivered her second in a row and third of the season.  For Jahnke, it was her second of the campaign … The victory allowed the Saints to sweep the season series from Saint Xavier, 2-0 … The win puts the Saints in a semifinal-round rematch with top-seeded Indiana University South Bend on Friday at 6 pm CT.  The two teams split their regular-season matchups with USF winning on the road 72-70 (Dec. 7) and falling at home 71-43 (Jan. 18). 

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