LORETTO, Pa. (January 14, 2010) – In a game that featured 11 ties and nine lead changes, the Saint Francis women's basketball team suffered a disappointing, 65-61, defeat against Monmouth in Northeast Conference action on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.
Three players led Saint Francis in double-digit scoring. Senior Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio / Mount de Chantal) had a team-high 15 points along with four assists and three steals, junior Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio / Miami Trace) added 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists, and junior Allison Daly (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) (Harrisburg, Pa. / Trinity) contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
Monmouth's Gabby Singer led all players with 23 points and six steals. Alysha Womack had added 13 points, four rebounds and three steals, and Alexis Canady had 11 points and two assists.
The Red Flash fell to 6-9 overall, and 3-2 in the Northeast Conference. They will return to action at 4 p.m. Saturday when they play host to Fairleigh Dickinson, at DeGol Arena. The Hawks improved to 7-9 overall, and 2-3 in the league.
The Hawks jumped out to a six-point lead just four minutes into the game on a three-pointer from Singer. Leach put up a jumper with Shene Fleming (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) adding a lay up as the Red Flash worked to cut the lead down to two. The Hawks bounced back, and SFU found themselves on the bad end of a 16-9 deficit after Singer put up two points on a lay up.
Quinessa Johnson (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) put up four points to cut Monmouth's lead to just three, but the Hawks held on to their lead with a three from Erin Rooney. Daly nailed a three-pointer of her own to tie the game 21-21 with a minute and a half left to play in the first half. A jumper from Womack put Monmouth ahead 23-21 at halftime.
Janie Killian (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) tied the game 25-25 to start off the second half, and a free throw by Leach tied it up again just a minute later. After Abby Martin sunk a jumper to put the Hawks ahead once again.
Hodges 3-pointer from the elbow gave the Red Flash their first lead, 28-27, since their 2-0 advantage just seconds into the first half. But Womack answered with a 3-pointer before Hodges nailed another three from the other elbow to make it 31-30. Hodges then came up with a steal at mid-court and was fouled. She sunk both free throws to make it 33-30 and then Leach made it a 7-0 run for SFU by nailing a pair of free throws.
Chanel Gomez finally ended the run with 10:35 left with a layup, but Daly drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to answer and make it 38-32, giving SFU its largest lead thus far with 10:26 to go.
Singer stole an inbounds pass, and a quick layup by Canady gave the Hawks a 42-41 lead, completing a 10-3 run. SFU's Nickia Gibbs (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) (Eleanor Roosevelt) was fouled after inbounding the ball, and made the first of two free throws to tie the game at 42-42. The Red Flash continued their pressure defense and forced the Hawks into a desperation shot with the shot clock winding down. Leach came down with the rebound and was fouled, sending her to the line for a one-and-one with 6:04 remaining. She made both free throws to put SFU on top, 44-42. However, Singer nailed a three from the corner to put Monmouth back on top, but that was before Hodges hit another big shot, her third trifecta of the night, to give SFU a 47-45 lead with 5:33 left.
With the shot clock again running down, Singer was fouled in the act of shooting. She made both free throws to tie the game at 47-47 with 5:04 to go. But Johnson hit Kelley Doogan (Claymont, Del./Ursuline Academy) (Claymont, Del./Ursuline) for a 14-foot jumper at the other end to put the Red Flash back on top by two. Womack made both ends of a one-and-one to tie it back up with 4:27 remaining. After a Monmouth defensive stand, Doogan came up with a huge steal and fed an outlet to Hodges for an easy layup to give the Red Flash a 51-49 edge with 3:45 remaining in the game.
Martin layup tied it at 51-51 before Doogan found herself wide open on a pass from Leach for a layup that made it 53-51, Red Flash. Singer was fouled under the Hawks basket and made both free throws to tie the game at 53-53 with 2:14 to go. Leach drove to the basket at the other end, and fed Doogan a pass. Doogan was fouled and made both free throws with 1:59 left to make it a two-point game, 55-53, SFU.
But Martin made a layup off an offensive rebound and the Hawks came up with a steal before calling timeout with the game deadlocked at 55-55 with 1:26 remaining. Womack drove the lane and made a layup with 1:15 to go that gave Monmouth a two-point advantage. But Leach answered with a big jumper at Saint Francis' end to tie it back up with 59.7 left.
With 49.1 seconds remaining, Canady completed a 3-point play that put the Hawks up 60-57, and the Red Flash missed a shot at the other end with Monmouth coming down with the rebound. Canady made both free throws to ice the game with 28.0 seconds left, giving the Hawks a 62-57 lead.
Hodges made a layup with 16.5 to go with Robinson-Fruchtl calling a timeout. After being fouled on the inbounds pass, Singer made the back end of two free throws with 14.7 left. Leach made layup with 5.6 remaining and SFU fouled. Singer sealed it with two free throws with 4.9 seconds left as the Hawks took a 65-61 victory at DeGol Arena.
The Red Flash shot 39.2 percent from the field and 46.2 percent on three-point shots. They were a dismal 65.2 percent at the free-throw line. However, they were able to our-rebound the Hawks 37-32.
