PHILADELPHIA -- Few words can describe the performance of St. Joseph's center Dale Hodges in the Lady Hawks' 73-61 victory over the women's basketball team Saturday afternoon at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

Unbelievable. Amazing. Wow.

"She's incredible," guard Dana Eikenberg said. "I don't know if she can be stopped one-on-one."

Hodges scored 34 points, pulled down 19 rebounds, and had four steals, one block and one assist.

"Whoever guards Dale ends up fouling her," St. Joe's coach Jim Foster said. "She has a repertoire of moves; it's nice to have a player with that many moves."

And Hodges showed them all.

Whether it was running the floor, shooting the turnaround 12-footer or fronting on defense, Hodges can do it all, very, very well.

"She's right up there," forward Susan Robinson said.

"She can do anything; she is one of the best players in the league," center Kathy Phillips said.

Hodges started a little slowly, however, scoring only two points in the first 15 minutes.

"I just thought I needed to take my time on the shots," Hodges said. "I think I was rushing my shots early. When I take my time, I do fine."

Hodges began to take over at 5:22 of the first half when she got her own rebound and scored. From then on she scored six straight points. Hodges ended up with 10 points in the first half.

Coach Rene Portland's strategy was to use Phillips to guard against Hodges.

"I thought Phillips did an excellent job on Hodges," Portland said. "We didn't want her to go to her left-hand side. If Dale goes to her right, she'll miss her shot."

Unfortunately for the Lady Lions, Phillips picked up her third and fourth fouls two seconds apart in the second half and fouled out with 5:05 left. With Phillips out it was all Hodges.

Hodges scored 20 of St. Joseph's final 27 points, many of them of the spectacular kind.

Off a steal, she ran the court, leaped past a Penn State player and put in a flying finger roll. On the next play, she had another steal and layup.

From the outside, she nailed jumpers of 16- and 10-feet and defensively she pulled down some key boards.

She finished with 24 points in the second half. The combination of Adrie DeVries and freshmen Tina Henry simply could not contain Hodges.

"It was all Hodges down the stretch," Portland said. "With Phillips out, Hodges killed us."

Going into the season, Hodges, a 6'1" senior from Trenton, N.J., was expected to be a force.

She was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year last year when she averaged 23.4 points per game and 11.2 rebounds. In a game against Northwestern last year, she pulled down 21 rebounds, tying a school record. And she holds or shares 40 Lady Hawks' records.