HACKENSACK, N.J. (March 1, 2008) – Saint Francis faded in the final minutes of Saturday's matinee at the Rothman Center after an overall-solid game, eventually falling to Fairleigh Dickinson, 64-59. The Red Flash never trailed in the first half and rarely trailed by more than five points in the second half on the strength of a 46.4 percent performance from the floor.

“I thought we played hard for the most part.” Saint Francis coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl said. “I think you saw some things that we've worked on over the last three days of practice especially the fast break.”

However, for all its bright spots, the Red Flash (6-22; 3-14 Northeast) were undone by the second chance points, 17 of them, that they allowed the NEC tournament-bound Knights.

“I feel like I should be like the Michigan women's coach,” said Robinson Fruchtl. “I mean, we gave up 19 offensive rebounds. That's very frustrating as a coach. If we show effort in one area, then I think we can show it in all areas – including this one.”

Overshadowed by the loss was a brilliant performance by sophomore Janie Killian (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) who had an outstanding game scoring a team- and career-high 17 points to go along with eight boards.

“I think [Janie] has gotten better [over the course of the season],” said Robinson Fruchtl. “She's been a sponge over the course of the year working with [assistant coach] Ashli [Schwab] and taking the knowledge that we have in post play. Offensively she's come a long way; defensively, I think is an area where she can still improve.”

Sophomore Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal Academy) tossed in 15 points and dished out six assists. The recently-converted point guard now has compiled 26 assists over her past three games, jumping from 10th to 4th place among conference statistical leaders in that category since last weekend.

Juniors Taryn Adamski (Valencia, Pa./Mars) (Valencia, Pa./Mars) and Whitney Robinson (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) chipped in six points apiece.

The Red Flash allowed Fairleigh Dickinson to execute the only lead change of the day just 16 seconds into the second half as Jennifer Walkling scored two of her game-high 25 points.

Though the Knights were able to build leads as large as seven and eight points throughout the course of the afternoon, the Flash were able to hang within two-to-three points for a majority of the contest. Despite forcing two second-period ties, SFU was never able to regain a lead.

“I thought when they got ahead we came down and, for the most part, executed on offense,” said Robinson Fruchtl. “We at least got the shots that we were looking to get – we didn't make all of them, but those are the chances you take.”

“But I thought we did battle. You know, rebounding, we had been out rebounding the last three or four teams we played, and we let that get away from us tonight.”

The Knights out-rebounded the Red Flash, 41-27, on the afternoon.

Saint Francis will conclude its season when they visit Monmouth on Monday evening.