LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 9, 2008) – Saint Francis drew first blood on a Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal Academy) jumper but never led again, as the Red Flash fell, 69-59, to Fairleigh Dickinson in women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena.

“We're not shooting the ball well. Especially at home, you've got to put the ball in basket,” said Flash head coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl said of her team's 33.8 percent performance from the field. “But, I thought we played hard to tonight, we battled.”

The Flash did, however, show some resilience, overcoming a pair of nine-point deficits in the first half to pull within six at the intermission, 30-24. In the second stanza, the Knights quickly expanded their lead to 12 before Saint Francis went on a run of their own.

Freshman Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) scored the first five points of a 16-7 Red Flash run that cut FDU's lead to three, 45-42.

Fairleigh Dickinson responded to regain a two-digit lead.

Saint Francis threatened one last time, pulling to within four with 7:50 remaining in regulation, but the Knights crushed any hope of a comeback by jumping out to its largest advantage of the game – 15 points.

Two FDU players eclipsed the 20-point mark. Jasmyra Saunders scored a game-high 24 and Jennifer Walkling was close behind with 23.

Saint Francis was led by Hodges who poured in 16 for her 20th double-digit scoring game of the season. Leach scored 14 and senior Emily Bollinger (Westminster, Md./Westminster) (Westminster, Md./Westminster) contributed 10 to round out SFU's offensive leaders.

The Red Flash were dominated on the boards to the tune of 51-27.

“We gave up 14 offensive boards: seven in the first and seven in the second,” said Robinson Fruchtl. “When they got one, they got two or three at the same time and that's really demoralizing.”

Saint Francis did manage to carve out a spot in the school record books, however. SFU's eight turnovers tied for the second fewest in program history. The Red Flash record stands at seven.

SFU returns to action on Monday when they host Long Island at 7 p.m.