JOLIET, Ill. --- The climb up the mountain was long, but University of St. Francis eventually got over the top to claim a 72-65 victory over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Division II counterpart Holy Cross College (Ind.) at the Patrick J. Sullivan Recreation Center Tuesday night.

Falling behind by as many as 12 points in the first half and 11 points less than eight minutes into the contest, USF did not take its first lead until the 13:12 mark of the second half (50-49) and even then never gained more than a seven-point advantage.

St. Francis (13-8) whittled its dozen-point deficit down to two points, 33-31, with 71 seconds to play in the opening half, but had to settle for a four-point difference, 35-31, at the break.

Even when head coach Brian Michalak's club did gain the lead, Holy Cross (5-15) never gave in forcing a 55-all tie with 7:44 to play and trailed by only one point, 60-59, as late as the 4:24 mark.

Senior guard Ashley Pudik (Kankakee C.C./Washington, IL) and freshman guard Cydney Weisflog (Oak Creek H.S./Oak Creek, WI) keyed the second-half charge, while freshman forward Katie Gonnering (Freedom H.S./Seymour, WI) was her same steady self again.  Gonnering authored her third straight double-double totaling 25 points and 12 rebounds.  She also registered four steals and three assists.

Pudik and Weisflog each hit a pair of clutch three-pointers after the break with Pudik scoring all 11 of her points in the closing 20 minutes and Weisflog netting eight of her 11 after the break.  Pudik, like Gonnering, also collected four steals and three assists.

Junior Ashley Teresiak (Moraine Valley C.C./Orland Park, IL) added 12 markers to the cause.

Holy Cross, which was led by Linsey Steffen's 26 points and 13 rebounds, shot nearly 20 percentage points higher than the Saints in the opening half (50.0 pct.-31.4 pct.) in maintaining the lead throughout the opening 20 minutes.

St. Francis closes out the week at Judson University on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.