ST. LOUIS - Saint Joseph's took command with a 12-0 first-half run and went on to defeat Saint Louis 69-38 in an Atlantic 10 Conference game Sunday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena.

The Billikens dropped to 7-11 overall and 1-2 in the A-10, while the Hawks improved to 12-5, 3-0 with a fourth straight victory.

Lorreal Jones had nine points and seven rebounds to lead Saint Louis. Denisha Womack scored eight points, while Mallory Eggert and Halee Castleman collected seven and six rebounds, respectively. Jacy Bradley tallied five assists.

Chatilla van Grinsven posted game highs of 15 points, 10 rebounds (seven offensive) and three blocks for Saint Joseph's. Erin Shields registered 13 points and eight assists, Natasha Cloud contributed 12 points and seven assists, and Ilze Gotfrida hauled in nine rebounds.

After the Hawks sprinted to a 16-4 lead, Desirae Ball hit a 3-pointer and Jones followed with a three-point play to make it 16-10. But Saint Joseph's responded with a 12-0 spurt for a 28-10 cushion, and the Hawks bumped up the margin to 22 before late buckets by Womack and Ball narrowed the gap to 38-20 at halftime.

Jones sank two free throws early in the second half to make it a 16-point game, but that was as close as the Billikens would get.

"Certainly our hats are off to Saint Joseph's, I think they're an NCAA Tournament team," head coach Lisa Stone said. "You have to pick your poison with them. If you try to flush the ball out of van Grinsven's and Shields' hands as we tried to do, they have other players who can take up the slack.

"I think our effort was better than it was at Duquesne Wednesday night, and I thought our preparation and defensive game plan were good," Stone said. "But we weren't solid enough defensively and didn't execute offensively.

"We have to find ways to demonstrate growth and improvement every day and compete for 40 minutes," Stone said. "There are a lot of things we need to get better at, but Saint Joseph's is a good team and I give them a lot of credit."