CHICAGO – Sophomore forward Veronica Bafia (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) scored a career-high 31 points on 12-for-18 shooting (66.7 percent) from the field to help give the Saint Xavier University women's basketball team (1-0, 0-0 CCAC) a 71-59 victory over Cleary University (Mich.) in the season opener for the Cougars Thursday evening on Bob Hallberg Court at the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill. Bafia scored 12 points in the first quarter enroute to her first 30-point game at the collegiate level. She also had six rebounds (four offensive), a blocked shot and a steal in 38 minutes of action. SXU trailed by as many as nine points, 29-20, midway through the second period. From there the Saint Xavier defense allowed just two points the rest of the way to head into halftime down 31-30.

A basket by freshman forward Alaina Peetz (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township) gave the Cougars the lead, 32-31, on their second possession of the third quarter, and Bafia sank a shot that capped a 14-2 run. Freshman guard Brooklynn Johnson (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) knocked down a jumper at the 7:05 mark of the period, and SXU would hold on to the lead rest remainder of the contest. Senior guard Jaidn Green (Evansville, Ind./Evansville North) scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half, making five of her seven shots. Overall, Green was 6-for-11 from the floor, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes.

• Peetz, starting in her first collegiate contest, tallied 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting with a team-best eight rebounds (three offensive), two blocks, two steals and an assist in 33 minutes of play.
• Johnson collected four assists, four points and four rebounds, also making her first collegiate start, in 23 minutes on the court.
• Senior guard Lia Chudzik (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) added three points, an assist, a rebound and a steal in nine minutes off the bench.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Delaney Panozzo (Grant Park, Ill./Grant Park) chipped in two points, two rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in eight minutes.
• Sophomore guard Maeve Egan (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) came away with five rebounds and an assist in 18 minutes of action.

Saint Xavier (1-0/0-0 CCAC) travels to Columbus, Ind. to play Indiana University Columbus on Tuesday, November 4. The game is scheduled for a 4:00 pm central start.