Photos Aaron Mitchell
By: Jeremy Goode
PHILADELPHIA - Over the last three games, Aleah Snead has been on a tear.
On Nov. 10, she had a team high 19 points, helping earn Saint Joseph’s University women’s basketball a 70-65 win against Cincinnati. Against Penn State, she had 21 points, six rebounds and 4 assists. And on Nov. 20, the Penn Charter product recorded 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists in an 18-point win at Columbia.
On Mon., Nov. 24, Snead continued the strong play she has displayed early on in her junior season. The Hawks beat the Penn Quakers 74-53 at the Palestra, behind Snead’s game high 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists -- just three assists away from a triple double.
“I think I’ve really grown into my role over the past two years, and so this is my time to show what I have,” Snead said.
She credits the work she put in over the summer to improve her game. That work involved taking a lot of shots in the offseason.
“Just shooting the ball more at a higher clip, and when I’m open, being confident in shooting,” said Snead.
So far this season, the shooting has been just one difference.
Snead is doubling the shots she takes per game this season compared to the 2024-25 campaign. She is averaging 12 more minutes on the floor per game with 33. And Snead has more than doubled her points per game average from last year, jumping from 6.4 to 13.2.
Penn vs. SJU - PSD Photos by Aaron Mitchell
St. Joseph’s women’s basketball head coach Cindy Griffin has noticed the difference in Snead’s game this season as well.
“Her confidence has risen because of the work she has put in,” Griffin said. “She moves without the ball really, really well and she moves into space really, really well. Understanding that she is going to take a primary role this year, what that looks like, and she’s stepping up for us big time.”
There were certainly glimpses of Snead displaying her potential in her freshman and sophomore seasons. As a freshman, she checked into 28 games, while starting in two. Last year, she started in six and shot 52 percent for field goals on roughly five shots per game.
This year, as one of the captains, she has started in every game, while already taking a third of the shots from the field as the total she took last year, while shooting from field goal range at an improved rate of 53 percent.
Snead’s trends continued in the game at Penn.
She set the tone early on, scoring eight points in the first quarter to help build a 18-6 lead after the first 10 minutes of competition. Snead also secured four rebounds in each quarter in the first half, heading into the locker room with 12 points and eight rebounds, and a 15-point Hawks lead.
Snead shot 8 for 10 on the evening, and 2 for 4 from beyond the arc.
“She’s a tough matchup because you have to put a four on her or at least we had to put one of our posts on her,” Penn head coach Mike McLaughlin said. “She has really improved; I’ve seen her grow up. Now she is shooting the three… She has better poise than she’s ever had… If we did not have to go against her I’d say it’s pretty cool watching her get better and better.”
While the Hawks only shot 34.8 percent from beyond the arc, their field goal percentage was nearly 53 percent. Of their 74 points, almost half of them (36) came in the paint, many from under the basket.
L to R: Aleah Snead, Cindy Griffin, and Faith Stinson on St. Joe's Dominant Win at Penn - PSD Video by Jeremy Goode
Simone Sawyer and Mike McLaughlin on Competing Against a Tough St. Joe's Team - PSD Video by Jeremy Goode
“A big thing we are emphasizing this year is ‘owning our real estate,’ and we do have pretty good size on the inside,” Faith Stinson said. “Me and Cecilia [Kay], we can get down there and post up. Jill Jekot can also post-up. So, just utilizing our matchups and knowing where we have our strengths and taking advantage of that.”
St. Joseph’s balanced the scoring among the team in the second half, as most of the team got involved. Jekot and Stinson each scored eight points in the final 20 minutes, while Jekot was 57 percent from the field and Stinson was 75 percent.
Penn’s Simone Sawyer led her team in points and rebounds with 14 and seven. The senior has never beaten St. Joe’s during her time at Penn.
“They’re very fundamentally sound; they’re very disciplined,” Sawyer said. “They guarded us really hard… and they have a lot of offensive and defensive threats. But that’s just something we need to work on and just being better at paying attention to detail in practices. We had a lot of breakdowns that we did prepare for, so that just comes with us trying to get our flow going together.”
Gabby Casey, the Hawks leading scorer, finished under her average in points with 12 on a slow shooting night, but she did a little bit of everything, adding six rebounds and seven assists.
“The big thing is that we move the ball,” Griffin said. “You have to understand what a really good shot is, and we’ve been able to get that. Gabby had seven assists, so if you’re not shooting well, she’s responsible for at least 14 other points. That’s what this team is about and I’m really proud of her for that.”
The Big 5 Women’s Hygiene & Beauty Drive is a community campaign founded by Kaylie Griffin, a member of the Saint Joseph’s University Women’s Basketball team. The goal of the drive is simple: to collect essential hygiene and beauty products — such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, and new makeup items — for local women’s shelters and domestic abuse programs across Philadelphia. Donation bins will be placed at the Big5 championship at Villanova University on Sunday, Dec. 7th.
Snead and St. Joe's get a little bit of a break for Thanksgiving before they look to continue their run against Philadelphia schools and host Drexel next, on Sat., Nov. 29.