BOX SCORE

EMMITSBURG, Md. (Feb. 4, 2012) – Different year, different team, same February Red Flash.

The Saint Francis University women's basketball team won its third straight game on Saturday night, downing Mount St. Mary's, 59-51, at Knott Arena.  The win not only gave the Flash its fourth win in five games but, by virtue of its 7-4 record in the Northeast Conference, lifted SFU in a tie for third place in the first game of the regular season's final month.

The Flash trailed for all of 22 seconds in the contest and led by as many as 19 points with under eight minutes to play but, thanks to a cold-shooting second half, the Mountaineers (8-14; 4-7 NEC) were able to whittle their deficit to two, 53-51, with 1:06 to play.

“We stopped scoring [in the second half] but we didn't give up that many points,” said SFU head coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl.  “We wanted to hold them under 55 points, which we did, but we took some shots that were ill-advised.”

Down by 10 with under five minutes to go in regulation, the Mount's Jessie Kaufman and Jen Carney hit back-to-back 3-pointers to turn the contest into a two-possession affair.  Prior to the makes, Mount St. Mary's was 0-for-11 start from beyond the arc.

From that point on the SFU defense buckled down, Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) nailed a key layup and Alexa Hayward (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) hit on four free throw attempts to seal the win.

“Alli wasn't feeling real well so we got her a lot of rest which helped her finish strong,” said Robinson Fruchtl of her sophomore forward.

“This year we're going to have to win games with defense.  Last year we could out-score teams but this season we're not going to.  We have to gut it out and, looking at rebounds, that was our biggest margin all year.  The 18 we had on offense tells me that we were being aggressive.”

Saint Francis owned the boards on the evening, out-rebounding the Mountaineers 54-to-32.  Williams pulled down a game-high 13.  She was also one of four Red Flash double-digit scorers with 11.

On a 4-for-8 performance from the field, Hayward led SFU scorers for a fifth consecutive game with 15 points.  Nickia Gibbs (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) and Rhonda Watts (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson) finished with 14 and 10, respectively.

The Red Flash shot 41 percent (13-of-32) in the first half but cooled down to fire at a 33 percent clip on the evening.  The Mount shot 30 percent in the game.

Sydney Henderson led the Mountaineers with 12 points.

The Red Flash returns to action on Monday when it visits Wager for a 7 p.m. contest.