The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Xavier women's basketball team improved to 8-3 with a 70-64 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) on Wednesday at Cintas Center.

Tara Boothe led the Musketeers with 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting, along with 10 rebounds. Boothe, a sophomore from Highlands who recorded her 13th career double-double, played all 40 minutes in a back-and-forth game that featured 10 lead changes and was tied 33-33 at halftime.

Adeola Olanrewaju and Miranda Green both added 10 points for Xavier, which shot 50 percent for the game and outrebounded St. Francis 41-22.

The Musketeers relied heavily on their bench and eventually wore down St. Francis, whose starters averaged 35.4 minutes.

Reserves Nikki Wells (eight points) and Mandy Geryak (seven) came up big as XU got 19 points from its reserves, compared to none for the St. Francis backups.

Center Beth Swink scored 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds for St. Francis. The starting backcourt of Sarah Bolten and Karen Hewitt combined for 29 points and made six of the Red Flash's nine 3-pointers. Bolten is a graduate of Glen Este; Hewitt is a Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy product.

St. Francis fell to 5-4 this season.

Xavier's next game is against George Washington at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Cintas Center in XU's Atlantic 10 Conference opener.