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Saint Francis University Athletics

Team_CCSU_QF_2016
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77
Central Connecticut CCSU 12-18
83
Winner Saint Francis U SFU 14-16
Central Connecticut CCSU
12-18
77
Final
83
Saint Francis U SFU
14-16
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Central Connecticut CCSU 22 18 24 13 77
Saint Francis U SFU 21 19 23 20 83

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Dan Griffin

Late Surge Pushes Women's Basketball Past CCSU, Into NEC Semis

Post Game Quotes

LORETTO, PA- Saint Francis used a 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to defeat Central Connecticut 83-77 in the Northeast Conference Quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon.

Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) led four players in double figures for the Red Flash with 24 points while Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) added 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the offense. TeJahne Malone had her third double-double against the Flash this season, leading the Blue Devils with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

"We're happy we won, obviously," head Coach Joe Haigh said afterwards. " It was a great playoff game. It's the first playoff game for all of the people up here, in this uniform at least. It's a different experience being in a playoff game. Overall, I thought we did a real nice job most of the game. We had a few shaky minutes, but we learned from them."

The two teams traded shots and runs for much of the game as the teams combined for eight ties and 14 lead changes on Sunday. The Blue Devils came out scorching, hitting their first four shots and seven of their first 10. A 10-3 run midway through the quarter put CCSU up 18-11. In what would become a game-long trend, SFU answered with a run of their own. Five straight points by Reese and a three by Kovatch closed the quarter on a 10-4 spurt to make it 22-21 CCSU after the first 10 minutes.

The Blue Devils jumped out to their largest lead of the game, using a 9-1 start to the quarter to grab a 31-22 lead just three minutes into the second. Saint Francis began chipping away at the lead, a traditional three-point play by Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) and a put back by Halee Adams (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) cut the lead to two. The Flash pulled even with the Blue Devils late in the half on the back of Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md./Western (Hampton U)). Her put back got the Flash within two and the graduate student fed Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) for the tying lay-up moments later. The teams went into the locker room tied at 40.

"I didn't realize, just looking through this, how many times we were down seven or nine in the first half," Haigh said. "That's a credit to our team, I never sensed any panic in the team when we were down seven, eight or nine. That's a big step in growth."

It would be the defense that sparked the Red Flash in the third quarter. SFU held the Blue Devils scoreless for over three minutes as Jess Kovatch got hot offensively. The NEC Rookie of the Year scored seven-straight points as part of a 10-0 run to give SFU their largest lead at 56-45. Now it was the CCSU defense's turn to spark a run. The Blue Devils held the Flash scoreless in the ensuing three minutes as they erased the SFU double-digit lead. An Andi Lydon three gave the Blue Devils a 59-58 lead and CCSU took a 64-63 advantage into the fourth.

The teams went shot-for-shot in the early goings of the fourth, an Aleah Epps three put the Blue Devils up four, only to see Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) answer back with a three to make it a one-point game with seven minutes left. The teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes midway through the quarter before Aisha Brock (Jacksonville, Fla./Potter's House Christian Academy) gave SFU back the lead with a driving lay-in. The senior came off the bench to score 13 points on Sunday. Two Malone free throws gave the Blue Devils back the lead, but the SFU defense held solid. The two Malone free throws were the only points SFU surrendered for a seven-minute stretch in the quarter. A Kovatch jumper tied the game and another Brock lay-in gave the Flash the lead for good. The aforementioned 11-0 run would stretch the SFU lead to as many as nine in the final minutes before a CCSU three ended the streak. Following a Flash turnover, Courtney Zezza (Plum, Pa./Plum) rose up to block a Nicole Ferguson three-pointer, putting an exclamation point on the victory. A final Blue Devils three was off the mark and Saint Francis punched their ticket to the NEC Semi-Finals and a trip to Sacred Heart.

"Down the stretch, the last 3-4 minutes, we couldn't be much better," Haigh said. "Overall, we did a great job of executing different things we were asking them to do. Offensively, it was nice, because we were in a situation where we didn't have to change a lot of things. We ran our basic offense and we were more patient than we've been in the past. We started hitting those shots that opened up in the last four minutes."

Central Connecticut scored 22 points off of 18 Red Flash turnovers while SFU scored 14 off of 13 Blue Devil miscues. The Flash out rebounded CCSU 46-40, led by Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md./Western (Hampton U))'s 13 and held a 12-4 edge in second-chance points.

"Going into this game, I made a personal goal to get 20 rebounds, " Ward said after the game. " I didn't quite get it, but even the ones I didn't get, I got my hands on and deflected to my teammates. I think we did a good job of having everyone involved in rebounding. Everyone was crashing the boards this game, so I wasn't just by myself in there. I think we did a good job of, before the game, committing to helping each other out and having each other's back."

Aisha Brock (Jacksonville, Fla./Potter's House Christian Academy)'s 13 points puts her eight points shy of 1000 in her career. Kovatch hit two more threes on Sunday, giving her 96 for the season and putting her four behind Alexa Heyward for most in a season in SFU history. Sunday's victory was the 44th NEC Tournament win for Saint Francis, the most in Conference history.

Central Connecticut ends their season at 12-18 while the Red Flash improve to 14-16 overall on the season and they advance to the NEC Semi-Finals for the third time in four seasons. They advance to Wednesday's NEC Tournament semi-finals to face top-seeded Sacred Heart. Tip time from the Pitt Center is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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