Loretto, Pa. (January 16, 2010) – After squandering a 17-point deficit , the Saint Francis women's basketball team came together in the end to defeat the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights 65-61 on Saturday afternoon at the Stokes Center in Loretto on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Flash, who move to 7-9 overall and 4-2 in the Northeast Conference, will travel to New Jersey on Thursday to play Monmouth before continuing on the Teaneck to take on the Knights again on Saturday.
Alison Daly (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) put up the first points for the Red Flash on a three-pointer, coming after a layup by Jasmyra Saunders. Mariyah Laury sunk a three for the Knights, but Quinessa Johnson (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) u up two of her own followed by a jumper from Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) to give SFU the early 7-5 lead.
Johnson went to the free-throw line early, coming away with one. Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace) also earned a trip to the charity stripe and took two points away, giving SFU a 10-5 lead. Alannah Drsicoll-Sbar sunk two from the line right soon after, but Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) struck back with a three-pointer to keep the lead at five. Daly nailed another to stretch the lead to nine.
Alyssa Mayrose put up a layup to cut the FDU deficit by two, and Daly tangled up a Knights player to gain possession on a jump ball. She then nailed a three on the ensuing possession. Saunders put up two points, only to have Hodges nail a three at the other end. Saunders put up a jumper, but the Red Flash still held a 22-12 lead with 8:47 left to play.
Leach was fouled and went to the line again, and was again perfect to put the SFU lead into double-figures. Lilley then put up a field goal off of an inbounds play and put up two more soon after as the Red Flash took a 28-13 lead with 6:34 remaining in the first half.
Laury sunk an impressive jumper, but Hodges had a steal that ended with a rebounding layup from Leach to keep the lead at 15. Driscoll-Sbar put up two before Hodges was fouled and went to the line for the one-and-one and sinking both. Saunders brought the ball down the court and put up two, and then took two at the line.
Hodges sunk another three-pointer, followed by a layup from Kia Gibbs (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt). Laury missed at the free-throw line, but Saunders got a steal after the SFU rebound and put up a layup to cut the deficit to 14. Saunders nailed a three-pointer from the corner, and SFU's Shene Fleming (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade Julienne) put up a rebounding on the next possession. The Knights had one more opportunity to score on the play, but Gibbs drew a charge on the play to keep the Red Flash ahead 39-26 at halftime.
FDU was held scoreless on their first possession of the second half, so Hodges started the scoring off with a jumper. Mayrose sunk a three and Laury put up two more as the Red Flash's lead was cut down to ten just two minutes into the half. Saunders nailed another three from the corner to put the Knights within striking distance at 41-34.
Gibbs put up a short jumper, as did Johnson, to bring the SFU advantage back into the double-digits. However, a quick three-pointer from Saunders brought it down to just eight. Gibbs put up another jumper following an inbound play to put SFU up 47-37 with 15:34 left to play.
Laury nailed a jumper of her own off of an inbounds play, and Hodges battled back with a layup. Saunders then took the ball down to her own end and put up two, putting the score at 49-41. SFU was denied on their next possession, and Johnson drew charges on the next two FDU possessions as they were denied as well. Fleming than tangled with a Knights player to give SFU possession on a jump ball.
Laury put up a jumper to cut the Knights' deficit t just six with 11:19 remaining in the game. Saunders put up another in traffic to cut the SFU advantage to four. Mayrose hit a layup to put the score at 49-47 in favor of the Red Flash. Laury was then sent to the line for the one-and-one and tied the game, erasing what had been a 17-point FDU deficit.
Daly hit a layup off an inbound to put SFU up once again, but Saunders nailed a jumper to tie it up again. Johnson grabbed a rebound and turned it into a layup, but Saunders hit a jumper and was fouled on the play, but was denied at the line.
Johnson was fouled on a layup attempt of her own and picked up two after attempting three shots on a lane violation. SFU then forced a shot clock violation on FDU's next possession to get the ball back. Mayrose scored on a fast break layup as the Knights took a 57-55 lead. Fleming was sent to the line and came away with one, also shooting three on an FDU lane violation. She was sent to the line again after a layup from Laury gave the Knights a 59-56 lead.
Hodges went to the line, coming away with two with three minutes to go. Laury was also sent to the charity strip was perfect to keep the Knights up by three A three from Lilley tied the game, rousing the Red Flash faithful out of their slumber.
Hodges went to the free-throw line for two and nailed a jumper to seal the 65-61 win for the Red Flash.
In a battle of the NEC's leading scorers, Hodges (second) bested Laury (first), putting up 20 to Laury's 17. However, Saunders beat them both by having a career day with 26 points.
Daly had 11 points on the afternoon and was one steal shy of her career high with six. Johnson, who had nine points, led the rebounding effort with 12 boards as the Red Flash out-rebounded the Knights 46-33.
Unfortunately, the Flash lost the battle of the turnovers for the second consecutive game 22-18. They forced five steals, and had 15 points off of turnovers to FDU's 20.
The big rebounding led to 17 second-chance points, ten more than what FDU put up. Led by Lilley with 10, the SFU bench outscored the FDU reserves 19-3. The Flash ended the game shooting 38.6 from the field with the Knights a shade higher at 38.7. SFU was also 38.9 percent from the three and 82.4 at the line
Saint Francis also recorded three blocks and 12 assists, 10 of which came from Leach and Hodges who each dished out five helpers.
