LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 20, 2010) – Led by Britney Hodges (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal)' (Dayton, Ohio/Mount de Chantal) 25 points, the Saint Francis women's basketball team got revenge against Sacred Heart in the form of a 75-69 victory and a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament.  

Hodges and fellow senior Janie Killian (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) were honored as part of the team's annual Senior Day celebration.  The game also marked the third annual PinkZone game, with the Red Flash donning pink uniforms that will be auctioned off this week.

Kiley Evans started the scoring off less than a minute in, and was countered by Hodges just seconds later.  Both teams got called for travels on their next possessions, keeping the score at 2-2.  Evans hit a clean three-pointer on to put Sacred Heart up 5-2 with 18:22 left, then another three from Maggie Cosgrove stretched the lead to six early on.

 The Red Flash were held scoreless on their next trip down the court, and then returned the favor to the Pioneers.  Hodges cut into the deficit making one-of-two at the line.  A charge by the Pioneers negated their next bucket before Callaen Taylor hit her first points of the game to give SH a seven point lead.    Both teams failed to score on the fast break until 15:50 when Evans netted her seven point of the afternoon.  

A steal by Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) led to a huge three-pointer from Leach before a field goal from Lindsey Gibson increased the deficit by two.  Allison Daly (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) blocked a three-point attempt from Cosgrove, but Taylor added in two points t keep the Pioneers ahead.   Taylor put up another as Sacred Heart took an 18-6 lead with 13:04 remaining in the first.

Taylor continued to be nearly unstoppable, adding another layup before Allison Smith (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) put up a long jumper for the Red Flash.  Alisa Apo put up her first jumper of the game just before Smith was sent to the charity stripe for the Flash, coming away with one.  Apo put up to more and was countered by another bucket from Smith as SHU kept a 24-11 lead with 9:01 left in the first half.

A big steal from Daly led to Leach scoring two at the free-throw line, cutting the Pioneer lead to 11.  Lilley drove to the hoop to cut the lead even more before Leach added in a jumper as part of a 6-0 scoring run by the Flash.  Daly put up a fast break jumper as the Red Flash came within five.  A long three-pointer from Leach cut the deficit to just two with 4:56 remaining in the first half.  

Apo halted the SHU scoring drought with a short jumper to make it a two-possession game once again.  Hodges then hit her first three-pointer for the night before Taylor put up a layup to keep the Pioneers lead at three.    Evans went to the line for the one-and-one, but missed, with Smith grabbing the board and eventually making the layup.  Evans made a three-point play as the lead went back up to four.  Hodges went to the free-throw line for the one-and-one and made both to keep the Flash within four.  Apo put up another point at the free-throw line as the Red Flash went into the locker room down 34-29 at halftime.  

A three-point field goal from Hodges started off the second half, cutting the SHU advantage to two.   A block by Daly was sent ahead to Leach, who put up a jumper to tie the game at 34-34 just 90 seconds in.  Johnson went to the line for a point to give SFU their first lead of the game before a three from Cosgrove put SFU behind by two again.  Hodges added in two more points to tie it up again, but Taylor went to the line for two to break the tie.  

Hodges tied it up again with a jumper before Leach tied up Taylor for a jump ball, giving it back to the Red Flash.  Hodges then went two-for-two at the line, with Evans striking back with two in the paint.   Taylor put the Pioneers ahead with a layup before a three from Lilley gave the lead back to the Flash.

Hodges' 19th point of the evening put SFU up by three, before a rebounding field goal from Lilley stretched the advantage to five.  Taylor sunk a three on her end to cut the lead to three.  Lilley went to the free-throw line and sunk one, with Fleming adding in a rebounding field goal a minute later to put SFU ahead by six with 11:51 to go.  

Hodges put up yet another bucket before a layup from Leach put the SFU lead into double-figures for the first time.  After grabbing the board off of a missed Pioneer shot, Hodges took the ball down the court for the layup to keep the Flash ahead 57-45 with 9:08 remaining.

Alexis Campbell went two-for-two at the free-throw line, but a jumper from Hodges kept the SFU ahead by 12.  Taylor cut the lead to 10 at the free-throw line, but Leach put it back up to 12.  Campbell sunk her first three-pointer of the night before Leach added in two more to keep SFU up 63-51.

Taylor put up two in the paint, while Daly denied another Pioneer player with a huge block.  Evans was fouled soon after the inbounds play, and sunk two at the free-throw line to cut the SFU advantage to eight.  Fleming scored on an inbounds play to put the lead back at 10 for the Flash.  

Evans scored two more for the Pioneers, while Smith struck back with a long jumper for the Flash.  Lilley was fouled on the fast break, making one-of-two at the line.  Taylor added in a three-pointer from the foul line extended as Sacred Heart came within nine with 4:40 remaining.  

Fleming put up two points in the paint and the Flash forced SHU into a clock violation soon after to keep the Red Flash ahead 70-59.  Apo put up a quick jumper to cut into her team's deficit, and Fleming got the ball back for the Red Flash on a jump ball call.  Fleming then went to the line, coming away with a point.  

Taylor hit a three-point shot to put the Pioneers within seven with 46 seconds left in the game.  Hodges was fouled soon after Leach inbounded the ball, but missed the front end of the one-and-one.    Evans put up two points on a jumper.  The Pioneers then fouled Leach, who picked up two points at the free-throw line to keep SFU ahead by seven.  Lilley was the next player sent to the line, bringing home two more points.  Evans was fouled making a layup and made the ensuing free-throw, but the Red Flash will still get the 75-69 win, clinching a spot in the NEC tournament.  

Hodges led all scorers with 25 points, five boards and five assists.  Leach put up 20 points of her own, going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.  Lilley rounded out the leading scorings with 11 points, and also led the rebounding effort with seven boards.  Smith, who had nine points, and Lilley led the SFU reserves in outscoring the SHU bench 27-4.  

Daly, who was limited to just two points, had two big blocks and led the team with three steals as the Red Flash forced 23 turnovers by the Pioneers.  SFU was able to put up 19 points off of the SHU miscues.  

Taylor led the way for the Pioneers and finished with a double double at 15 points and 10 boards.  The freshman Evans was right behind her wit h 23.  Apo, the 2009 NEC Player-of-the-Year, was limited to just nine points in the contest.  
After shooting just 28 percent early in the first half, the Red Flash shot as high as 64 percent in the second half before ending the afternoon at 46.6 percent.  Hodges led the way at 9-of-12 for 75 percent.  SFU was also 41.7 from beyond the arc, but shot a dismal 64.0 at the free-throw line.

SFU will embark on their last road trip of the season on Thursday when they take on Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Md.  At 11-14 overall and 9-7 in the NEC, the Red Flash will look to continue on their three-game win streak and move up in the standings.