BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Feb. 23, 2009) – The Saint Francis women's basketball team found themselves in unfamiliar territory as of late, falling to the Long Island Blackbirds 66-46 at the Wellness Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Monday night.
The Red Flash now fall to 11-16 overall and 9-7 in the Northeast Conference. The Blackbirds, who won their third game of the season, ended the Flash's hopes of going .500.
SFU had only one player, junior guard Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal), produced double-digit points with 13. Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) had seven on the day with three boards.
Freshman forward Najah Prescott (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) put up the third and fourth field goals of her career, and also chipped in with one offensive and one defense rebound.
Senior forward Whitney Robinson (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) (Fairmont, W.Va./Fairmont) was another bright spot for the Red Flash. After coming back from an injury earlier in the season, Robinson has stepped up as a veteran figure for the Flash in numerous games as of late. Though she only put up four points in the evening, Robinson had six rebounds, two blocks and a steal, as well as numerous tips and great play-making situations.
The Flash scored the first points of the game, but soon found themselves down by 15 with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. A last second jumper by Hodges trimmed the Blackbirds lead to just nine points heading into the locker room.
Neither team got much going after half time, with SFU's Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) putting up the first points of the second half with 18:42 left to play. The Red Flash went on a 9-4 run to bring themselves within four on a free-throw shot by Lilley.
Five minutes later, they would again be at the bad end of a 15 point deficit that increased to 20 on a free-throw by Connie James with 5:59 remaining. Robinson and Prescott each made their second lay up of the night and Shawna Scott (Baltimore, Md./Milford Mill) hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds left in the game, but it wasn't enough as the Flash fell by a score of 66-46.
The LIU bench outscored the Flash bench 40-15, and the Blackbirds out-rebounded Saint Francis 47-25.
Long Island had two players with double-doubles, as Ashley Palmer had 14 points and 11 boards and Chelsi Johnson came away with a team-leading 18 points and 13 rebounds.
SFU shot 37.5 percent from the field and was just over 29 percent on three-pointers. They were 3-of-6 from the foul line.
The Red Flash return to DeGol to host Fairleigh-Dickinson for the team's annual Senior Day on February 28. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
