LORETTO, Pa. (Dec. 6, 2008) - The Saint Francis women's basketball team snapped a 3 game losing streak against St. Francis (NY) and scored their highest point total since 2005 as they defeated the Terriers 97-71 in a Northeast Conference match up on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena.
The team finished with five players scoring in double digits.
The last time the Red Flash scored more than 90 points was in a 91-85 against Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 2, 2005. They have not defeated St. Francis (NY) since the 2005-06 season.
The Red Flash took any early 10-3 lead with 17:06 left to play in the first half with both Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) and Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) hitting 3-point shots in the first three minutes of action.
But the Terriers battled back, and were able to tie the game at 18 apiece when Kara Ayers went to the free-throw line and came away with 2 points with 12:05 remaining. They were then able to take a 25-20 lead less than three minutes later.
SFU went on a 12-0 scoring run to take a 32-25 lead with less than six minutes left in the half, and went into the locker room at halftime up 44-34. They allowed Terriers only 2 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 5 times in the first half.
I was really pleased by a lot things, especially in the first half," said head coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl. "Our run was fueled by defense. "We went through a stretch there where we either got a defensive rebound or caused a turnover, got some steals - we really ran the floor. I was really happy with our transition hoops. It's something that we've been working on a lot"
Hodges started the second half off with a 3-pointer, and the Flash rolled from there, shooting an astounding 72.7 percent from the field in the period. Leading by 28 points with 2:29 left in the game, they fouled the Terriers twice in the remaining minutes but came away with their first conference win of the season.
Janie Killian (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Flash's first double-double of the season, but it was Hodges who led the scoring with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Lilley, a dominant force all season, put up 18 points in her NEC debut. Sophomore guards Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) and Allison Daly (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) each chipped in with 16 points and 4 assists as well. Daly had the team's lone block.
Lilley, Daly and Leach had 2 three-point field goals a apiece, and Hodges added in another 3 as they the team shot 60.0 percent on three-pointers in the game.
Kara Ayers had 23 points for SFC and was the only player to score in double digits for the Terriers, who shot 47.2 percent from the field and 69.6 percent from the free-throw line.
The Flash finished the game shooting a season-high 60.3 percent, and made 18-of-29 shots from the free-throw line. They scored 24 points off of SFC's 20 turnovers, while only losing possession 16 times.
After an extended break for final exams, the Red flash will travel to Duquesne on Dec. 18 for a 7 P.M. match up with the Dukes in Pittsburgh.
