BOX SCORE FORT MYERS, Fla. (Dec. 21, 2013) – The Saint Francis University women's basketball team put up its second highest first half outing of the season, but Tulane pulled away late and won, 89-67, on Saturday inside Alico Arena.
Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) posted a 31 point, 11 rebound double-double performance to lead the Red Flash (2-8), who has lost five straight games. Danielle Blagg knocked down five three's and scored 23 points for the Green Wave (7-3), who went 2-0 in the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites Classic.
"In the first half we held Tulane to limited offensive rebounds, but we gave up too many in the second half and that is where one of the key differences was," SFU head coach
Joe Haigh said.
A 24-7 run to open the second period propelled Tulane to its largest lead of the afternoon as the Green Wave led 66-49 with 9:38 to play in the game and they never looked back. It was a tale of two halves for Saint Francis as they finished the first half shooting 50% (15-30), but shot just 20% (6-30) in the second period.
Saint Francis struggled offensively early in the match-up and trailed the Green Wave 17-6 at the 14:02 mark. An 11-3 SFU run over four minutes of play put the Flash back in the game.
SFU's first lead came under seven minutes to play after a lay-up from
Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle), who posted 20 points in the opening period. The game was knotted at 42 apiece at the halftime break.
"Alli realizes the 'no tomorrow' mentality because of this being her last year, it has been fun to watch her really take control of ball games," Haigh continued.
Alexa Hayward (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) added 16 points after putting up 20 against Florida Gulf Coast last evening. Saint Francis was out-rebounded 43-30 and each team posted 21 turnovers. Tulane also received a large contribution from its bench with 25 points, while the Red Flash saw just 10 points from its bench.
Saint Francis returns to action on Dec. 29 as it travels to Bowling Green for a 2 p.m. match-up. It will be SFU's fourth contest of its six-game road tilt away from Sweet Loretto.
