JOLIET, Ill. -- Le'lani Harris led all scorers with 23 points and the University of St. Francis women's basketball team moved to 14-3 on the season with a 73-63 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Saint Xavier University on Wednesday night.  The decision also gave the Saints their seventh league win of the year (7-2), while the Cougars fell to 6-3 in conference action and 10-7 overall.

Harris hit a pair of three-pointers as part of a 7-for-14 showing from the floor in leading a starting unit that scored all but seven of USF's points on the night.  She also was a perfect 7-for-7 at the charity stripe.

Tykara Harrison (19 points) and Laurelei Thormeyer (15 points) each recorded double figures in scoring, while Symone Harrell and Baylei Johnson rounded out the starting five by netting five and four points, respectively.  Harrell also led all Saints with nine rebounds.

Saint Xavier jumped out to an initial 11-10 lead, but the Saints wiped that out with a 10-2 run that went into the second quarter and gave USF a 20-13 lead.  Head coach John McGinty's club would not trail the rest of the way, but SXU did make things interesting in its 25-point third quarter.  The Cougars got to within two points after trailing by as many as 13 within that period, but a Harrison jumper at the buzzer followed by a 12-2 run to start the fourth stemmed the tide and the Saints would cruise down the stretch to win by double figures.

Aided by a shooting percentage of .429 on the night (24-of-56) compared to SXU's .344 showing (22-of-64), the Saints also relied on their defense, forcing 16 Cougar turnovers and turning those miscues into a 18-8 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.  That more than offset a 43-36 rebounding edge by Saint Xavier, which was led by Alyssa Crenshaw's 20 points and eight boards.

Up Next
The Saints, who received votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll,  will take the court again on Saturday when they travel to Davenport, Iowa to face St. Ambrose University (Iowa) in another CCAC matchup.  Tip-off is 1 pm.

You can keep up with all things USF on X @USFSaints.