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Saint Francis University Athletics

Kovatch smile
www.jdcavrich.com
78
Bryant BRY 11-19
91
Winner Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA 15-16
Bryant BRY
11-19
78
Final
91
Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA
15-16
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Bryant BRY 13 24 17 24 78
Saint Francis (PA) SF-PA 24 26 24 17 91

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | David Halstead

Red Flash roll past Bryant in NEC Tournament quarterfinals, 91-78

SFU Postgame Quotes | Bryant Postgame Quotes | Bryant Postgame Video | SFU Postgame Video

Loretto, Pa. – NEC Player of the Year Jess Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) scored a season-high 38 points to help lead the Saint Francis women's basketball team (15-16, 11-7 NEC) to a 91-78 victory over Bryant (11-19, 9-9 NEC) in the NEC Tournament quarterfinals on Monday at DeGol Arena.
 
Robinson Fruchtl's Reaction
"Jess played with a lot of confidence tonight and I feel she gave a commanding performance as Player of the Year in this conference for the second time and in front of our fans," Interim Head Coach Susan Robinson Fruchtl said. "It was a good team effort. We really shot the ball well. We have obviously been in the gym shooting a lot. We executed tonight and made shots at key times."
 
First Quarter Recap
  • Sam Sabino (Rumson, N.J./Rumson Fair Haven (New Hampshire)) gave Saint Francis a spark to start the game as she scored seven of the Red Flash's first nine points to give SFU a 9-4 lead with 7:34 to play in the opening period
  • Kovatch then scored seven of the next nine Saint Francis points as the Red Flash opened up an 18-6 lead with 4:40 remaining
  • Courtney Zezza's (Plum, PA/Plum) three-pointer with 33 seconds to go put SFU ahead 24-13 at the end of the first stanza
Second Quarter Recap
  • Bryant pulled within 28-18 before Kovatch went on a 7-0 run on her own to extend the Red Flash's lead to 35-18 with 7:07 left in the second period
  • Kovatch connected on another three-pointer as SFU led 42-25 with 3:41 to play
  • Saint Francis continued to push the pace and pile on the points as it held a 50-37 halftime advantage
Third Quarter Recap
  • Bryant used a mini 5-0 run to open the third period and cut the Red Flash's lead to 50-42 with 7:44 remaining
  • SFU responded with a 10-1 run as back-to-back Kovatch treys put the hosts ahead 60-43 with 3:55 to play
  • After a short Bulldogs spurt to cut the margin to 65-54, Leah Morrow (Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Africentric) scored five straight points as part of a 9-0 run to give Saint Francis a 74-54 advantage at the end of the third frame
Fourth Quarter Recap
  • The Bulldogs used a 12-2 run to open the final period and trim SFU's lead to 76-66 with 7:12 remaining in the contest
  • Phee Allen's (Newport News, VA/Woodside) three-pointer sparked a 9-3 Red Flash run that was capped off with a Haley Thomas (Hooversville, PA/Bishop McCort) layup as SFU led 89-73 with 3:17 to play
  • Saint Francis played lockdown defense the rest of the way to secure the win and advance to the NEC Tournament semifinals
Notes
  • SFU shot a stellar 32-of-64 (50.0%) from the floor, including 14-of-37 (37.8%) from three-point range and 13-of-19 from the charity stripe
  • Bryant controlled the battle on the boards with a 46-30 rebounding advantage, including 20 offensive boards
  • Kovatch had a lethal shooting performance, going 13-of-19 from the field, including 8-of-12 from behind the arc and 4-of-4 from the free throw line
  • Sabino (11 points), Thomas (11 points) and Morrow (10 points) all finished in double figures
  • Karson Swogger (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) had eight of SFU's 17 assists
  • Zezza added three blocks to give her 298 career rejections
Up Next
Fourth-seeded Saint Francis will travel to No. 2 seed Sacred Heart for the NEC Tournament semifinals on Thursday, March 14 at 6 p.m.
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