Flash Points:

• Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes (Manhattan)) led SFU with 18 points
• Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) added four blocks to lead the defense
• SFU returns home next Saturday to host LIU Brooklyn

Fairfield, CONN.- An 11-0 second half run by Sacred Heart was too much to over come as the Pioneers defeated the Red Flash 73-63 on Saturday afternoon inside Pitt Arena. 

The Flash found themselves down nine points at the half but clawed their way back into the game in the third quarter. SFU chipped away at the Sacred Heart lead throughout the quarter and six straight points by Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes (Manhattan)) tied the game at 46. The Red Flash defense continued to get stops and Saint Francis had three cracks at taking their first lead of the second half but could not convert. With just seconds remaining in the quarter, Hannah Kimmel hit a three to put Sacred Heart up 49-46 at the end of the quarter. That three sparked an 8-0 run to start the fourth and put the Pioneers up double digits, a deficit that SFU could not overcome. 

It was a defensive battle on Saturday, with neither team able to crack 40 percent shooting from the field. The Pioneers held Saint Francis to just 35 percent shooting including 6-29 from three-point range (21 percent). Sacred Heart was not much better from the field, shooting 38 percent from both the field and three-point range. 

As a result, this was a nip-and-tuck game for 40 minutes. Neither team led by more than three in the first quarter, a Sacred Heart lead that was quickly erased by a Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) three. The teams would be tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter. 

Sacred Heart started to pull away in the second quarter as the Flash went cold from the field, scoring just two points over a three minute span. A pair of Kimmel threes put the Pioneers up eight and forced a SFU timeout. The reigning NEC Player of the Year led all scorers with 18. The Sacred Heart lead would grow to as many as 10 in the second quarter before Halee Adams (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle (Sienna)) failed to convert a three-point play, but got her own rebound and put back to cut the lead to five. Sacred Heart would lead 38-29 at the half. 

The Red Flash defense fueled the third-quarter comeback as they held Sacred Heart to just two points in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the frame. A Kelsey Castro three put Sacred Heart back up seven, but Saint Francis responded with a 9-2 run to knot the game at 46. SFU held Sacred Heart to just 3-15 shooting in the third but could not get over the hump and take the lead. The late Kimmel three proved to be the spark for Sacred Heart into the fourth quarter that ended up being the difference. 

Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes (Manhattan)) finished with a team-high 18, tying Kimmel for the game-high. Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) came on late to finish with 11 while Ace Harrison (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor (Maryland)) had a near double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds. Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) continued to lead the defense with four more blocked shots. Sacred Heart placed four in double figures, led by Kimmel's 18. Katherine Haines had a double double of 14 points and 16 rebounds. 

The loss drops the Red Flash to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in the NEC. Sacred Heart improves to 5-8 and 2-0 in conference play. Saint Francis returns home for the first time since November 28th next Saturday when they host LIU Brooklyn. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. and is a start of a double header between the schools.