LORETTO, Pa. (Jan. 17, 2011) – Late-game heroics were not in the cards for the Saint Francis women's basketball on Monday night, as the Red Flash dropped their first Northeast Conference decision of the season, 75-68, to Monmouth at DeGol Arena.
Four Flash players scored in double digits led by Shené Fleming who had 14 points but a second-half defensive lapse did in Saint Francis and its five-game winning streak.
“It was our second-half defense,” said Red Flash head coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl. “You can't give up that many points and expect to win.”
Monmouth outscored SFU 42-35 in the second period.
Saint Francis held a lead as late as the 4:32 mark of the second half, but a Gabby Singer three-pointer gave the Hawks a 63-61 advantage. The Flash managed to knot things up at 65 with just over two minutes to play, but after that Monmouth pulled away to seal the win.
Abby Martin tossed in 15 points to pace Monmouth's five double-digit scorers.
Despite the loss, Saint Francis turned in one of its finer offensive performances of the season. The Red Flash shot 55.6 percent –their second-highest clip of the year. They were, however, let down by poor free throw shooting. SFU hit on only 5 of 14 attempts from the line.
“Offensively, we scored enough points to win,” said Robinson Fruchtl.
After trading some quick game-opening buckets, the contest was tied at two until the 16:04 mark when Fleming broke the scoreless stretch with a layup.
From that point on, Monmouth gained two brief one-point leads and tied the score once at 19-all at the 6:55 mark, while the Flash built advantages as large as six points.
After a exchanging several one-point leads, a 10-to-2 SFU run put the Flash up 33-26 with 1:47 to go. However, the Hawks rallied to within six and nailed back-to-back three-pointers to set a 33-33 deadlock heading into the intermission.
The Red Flash will face Long Island for the second time this season on Saturday. Tipoff at DeGol Arena is slated for 4 p.m. SFU took the first meeting in Brooklyn, 63-60.
