Saint Francis University Athletics

JOHNSTOWN, PA- The Saint Francis Red Flash closed the game on a 13-0 run over the final 4:48 to defeat the Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats 82-78 at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown. 

"Give Pitt-Johnstown a lot of credit, they played their hearts out today," Coach Joe Haigh said. "These are local kids that are very motivated to play Saint Francis, they did a great job today playing their style of basketball."

Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) continued to lead the Flash, matching her career-high with 32 points while adding seven rebounds two assists and two steals. The freshman had a big three and scored five points, an assist and a steal during the final run. 
 
"I had called the timeout at the under five mark because we needed to change the momentum," Haigh said. "We needed stops and we needed to turn up the intensity, I knew that if they got to 80, I didn't like our chances. I really credit our girls down the stretch, shutting them out over that span."

The teams traded buckets for much of the first quarter. Jaime Tabon had a team-high 18 for UPJ and hit a three and a lay-up to give the Mountain Cats a 15-10 lead. The Flash closed the quarter on a 9-2 run, paced by a pair of Kovatch threes and a Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) lay-up. SFU led 19-17 after one quarter. 

Saint Francis was able to build a seven-point lead, their biggest of the game after a pair of Cydney Smith (Port Tobacco, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) lay-ups gave SFU a 38-31 lead. Smith nearly had a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. UPJ would storm back, scoring the next seven points to tie the game at 38 and took a 40-39 lead on a Tabon lay-in. Kovatch and the Flash would close the half strong, the freshman scored the final five points of the half as SFU led 44-43 at the half. 

The Mountain Cats opened the second half on a 12-2 run to grab 55-46 lead in the first three minutes of the quarter. The lead would grow to as many as 15 in the quarter as UPJ built their lead from the foul line. The Flash would pound the ball into Smith in the final minutes of the quarter, she responded with a pair of baskets to cut the UPJ lead to 10 at 68-58 at the end of three. 

The lead would hover between eight and 10 for much of the fourth quarter as the teams traded baskets. A Kovatch three cut the lead to seven, leading into the media timeout and the closing run by the Red Flash started out of Haigh's timeout with 4:48 remaining. Kovatch and Adams hit threes, sandwiched by a UPJ turnover to cut the lead to 78-75. Another UPJ turnover and a missed lay-up kept it a one-possession game. Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) took a Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md./Western (Hampton U)) rebound coast-to-coast for a lay-up and an old-fashion three-point play to tie the game at 78 with 2:27 left. 

Again UPJ missed a lay-up, leading to a nifty lay-in by Kovatch from underneath the basket, giving the Flash their first lead since early in the second half. The Mountain Cats would miss their final eight shots down the stretch as a Smith lay-up closed the comeback and sealed the win for the Flash. 

Smith was only other Saint Francis player to join Kovatch in double figures. Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) had nine points and eight assists while Taylor Allison (State College, Pa./State College) had eight points off the bench. Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md./Western (Hampton U)) had a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with three points. UPJ out rebounded SFU 48-45 but the Flash edged the 'Cats 17-16 in points off turnovers.

The victory moves the Flash to 2-6 on the season and snaps a four-game losing streak overall and a seven-game slide against UPJ. The Mountain Cats fall to 5-4 with the loss. The Flash head back on the road next week, traveling to West Virginia on Thursday to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd. Tip-time is set for noon on Thursday afternoon.