City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
Kassidy Ingram (@ingram_kassidy)
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Emma Boslet’s green hair isn’t an Eagles reference. But she’s willing to say it is. 

“I don’t watch football,” she admitted, “[but] I’m going to say yes, because I’m in Philly.”

It’s just the St. Joe’s senior’s favorite color, the reason why she’s sporting a new look this year — fitting, as she’s filling a new role for the Big 5 favorites.

With senior guard Julia Nystrom sidelined with a concussion to start the year, Boslet has slid into the starting role, and so far the Hawks haven’t missed a beat. The 5-foot-11 Edison (N.J.) native, who entered the season with 86 career appearances but just one career start, has gotten the nod in each of the Hawks’ first three games, including a 68-57 win over Penn on Friday night at the Palestra to open Big 5 play.

A valuable reserve for the last three years after playing in three contests as a true freshman during the COVID season, Boslet’s been a major reason the Hawks are rolling to start the year.

“Her being able to step in, I think it was really seamless because she’s done it, she knows what we’re running, knows what we’re trying to do, and has a real basketball IQ,” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said. “She knows where the ball needs to go and she plays with a pace that she’s never too sped up, she’s never rattled, and I think that’s a testament to her ability and her confidence to handle the ball if she needed it.”

Boslet set a new career high with 10 assists in St. Joe’s win over Syracuse last weekend, then added four more in 34 minutes of play for the Hawks (3-0, 1-0 Big 5) against the Quakers, tallying four assists, four points and three rebounds while playing some versatile defense. Through three games, she’s averaging 4.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 6.3 apg with a 2.71-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Of course, it helps that Boslet has no shortage of scorers on the Hawks to get the ball to. 

Senior forward Talya Brugler, already ninth in program history in scoring, led St. Joe’s with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting, completing the double-double with 11 rebounds for her second of the year. Junior forward Laura Ziegler flirted with a triple-double, setting a new career high in assists (seven) as she also compiled 16 points and 12 rebounds. Mackenzie Smith (11 points) and Gabby Casey (10 points) joined them in double figures, as the Hawks’ efficient offense piled up 20 assists on 23 buckets. 

“I feel like my confidence is coming from my team and my coaches,” Boslet said. “They instilled this confidence in me that you can do it and I trust you to do this for us, and it’s been great. I wouldn’t have all these assists without my teammates making shots, so that’s also amazing.”

Nystrom’s absence also means Kaylie Griffin is getting the first extended minutes of her college career. The junior guard and daughter of head coach Cindy Griffin, who’d seen action in 24 games in her first two years, played 12 minutes against Penn (3-1, 0-1), hitting her only shot, a 3-pointer.

Griffin said Nyström, who started 33 of 34 games a year ago,averaging 3.4 ppg and 2.4 apg,  is “hopefully coming back soon.”

Penn, behind a strong effort from Stina Almqvist (21 points, 9 rebounds) and 13 from sophomore Mataya Gayle, hung tough with the defending Big 5 champs, but never once led. After trailing 39-29 at the break and by as many as 14 in the third quarter, the Quakers got the edge down to six early in the fourth (52-46), but the Hawks responded with a quick 9-0 run — all by Ziegler and Brugler — to get the lead well back into double figures, holding their hosts at arm’s length the rest of the way. 

“I thought we came out with a great punch, and then we were resilient,” Griffin said. “Penn went on a little bit of a run, they cut it to six at one point, then we come down and get a layup, bring it back up to eight and I don’t think we looked back after that. Really resilient group, very proud of the way we executed when we needed to.”

St. Joe’s shot 23-of-61 (37.7%) from the floor, 8-of-20 (40%) from 3-point range and 14-of-15 from the foul line. The Hawks also won the rebounding battle, 43-31, and the turnover battle with nine to Penn’s 13.

Penn shot 22-of-55 (40%) from the floor, 26.3% (5-of-19) from 3-point range and 8-of-10 from the foul line. 

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Big 5 Championship in sight?

Last year, in the previous Big 5 round-robin format, St. Joe’s women went 4-0 to earn their first outright Big 5 title since 2013-14. It was also the third time in school history that both the SJU men’s and women’s teams finished with a share of the Big 5 title in the same year. 

To reach the inaugural Big 5 Classic championship game on Dec. 6 at Villanova, the Hawks will need to go unbeaten in their pod of them, Villanova, and Penn; Temple, La Salle and Drexel make up the other pod.

That means the 2024 edition of the Holy War, a December 1 matchup at Hagan Arena, will not only be the latest version of the city’s hottest rivalry, but will be for a right to play in a title game, an invaluable experience early in the year. They wouldn’t rather do it against anybody else. 

“My freshman year, [former St. Joe’s point guard] Katie Jekot said we don't like Nova,” Ziegler said. “She put it in those exact words. Going into pods, we have to prepare to go into finals where we’re actually playing for a championship at the end, it’s exciting. We know we have to beat ‘Nova to go into that championship.”

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Hawks announce four for 2025 class

As National Signing Day nears a close, St. Joseph’s women’s basketball team has officially inked four commits– three of which are local talent. Kaylinn Bethea (Penn Charter), Rian Dotsey (Havertown High), Emily Knouse (Archbishop Wood), and Olivia Lutterodt (Farum, Denmark) committed to Cindy Griffin for her 25th season as head coach next fall.

“I’m very excited,” Griffin said. “They’re great kids, first and foremost. They give us a lot of versatility, great speed, size. I wish we could bring them in now, but we have to wait.”

Bethea, a 5-10 guard, will join her former high school teammate, Aleah Snead, at Hawk Hill. She is a 1000-point scorer, three-time Inter-Ac First Team select and championship winner, and comes off of last season averaging 17.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.7 apg and spg. Her and Dotsey both played club ball together in 2023 for the Philadelphia Belles. 

Dotsey, a 6-1 forward, is going into her third season as captain at Haverford High. Last season, she averaged 15.7 ppg and 8.9 rpg with 10 double-doubles. Her accolades include First Team All-Central, All-Delaware County, and All-Main Line honors. She was also part of a historic two-time Central League championship team and the undefeated 22-23 regular season team, both first in Haverford history. 

Knouse, a 5-10 forward, is a multi-sport athlete at Archbishop Wood, being acknowledged with All-Catholic League honors all four years in volleyball. Knouse enters her senior season a three-time district and state champion, who last playoff season led in scoring all five state games for Vikings, with a 26-point semifinal game against Bethlehem Catholic. 

The Hawks have had plenty of success going to Denmark to get Ziegler, so it only makes sense that 6-2 forward Lutterodt, who has experience with the Danish national team (U15, U16, U18, U20) and was named a part of the Eurobasket senior team earlier this month, brings her experience to an internationally-diverse Hawks squad. 

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Next Up

Saint Joseph’s (3-0, 1-0 Big 5) has a two-game swing to Utah, first playing Southern Utah on Wednesday before a rematch against Utah on Friday. 

Penn (3-1, 0-1 Big 5) has its second Big 5 pod game on Wednesday at Villanova (1-1, 0-0).