Fairfield, Conn. – Saint Francis women's basketball (13-15, 10-6 NEC) was unable to overcome hot shooting Sacred Heart (16-11, 12-4) in a 77-51 defeat on Saturday at the Pitt Center. Jess Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) led the Red Flash with 14 points, while Courtney Zezza (Plum, PA/Plum) added 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
First Quarter Recap

• Sacred Heart jumped out to an early 8-5 lead in the opening minutes
• A Haley Thomas (Hooversville, PA/Bishop McCort) layup cut the SHU lead to 11-9 with 5:27 to play
• The Pioneers closed the period on an 11-4 run to hold a 22-13 lead at the end of the first stanza

Second Quarter Recap

• Sacred Heart extended its lead to 29-13 with 8:45 left in the second period
• Kovatch's jumper cut the margin to 31-20 with 6:07 remaining
• The Pioneers' lead grew to 44-22 with 2:14 to go
• Zezza connected on a three-pointer with just over two minutes left to spark a 9-2 run that was capped off with back-to-back Kovatch treys as SFU trailed 46-31 at halftime

Third Quarter Recap

• SHU scored the first five points of the second half to take a 51-31 advantage
• Zezza's layup trimmed the margin to 51-35 with 5:07 to play​​​​​​​
• Aunesha Williams (Miami, FL/McEachern (Morgan State)) converted on a layup as SFU trailed 58-39 with 1:52 remaining
• The Pioneers led 62-42 at the end of the third frame

Fourth Quarter Recap

• Sacred Heart opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 74-44 advantage with 4:46 to play
• MaKenzie Pollard's (Baltimore, MD/Western) layup and three-pointer cut the Pioneers' lead to 74-49 with 2:12 to go
• SHU cruised the rest of the way to secure the victory

Notes

• Saint Francis split the regular season series with Sacred Heart for the third straight year
• The Red Flash fell into a tie for third place in the NEC standings with St. Francis Brooklyn. SFU now trails Sacred Heart by two games for second place
• Saint Francis shot 21-of-61 from the floor, including 5-of-24 from three-point range and 4-of-6 from the free throw line
• The teams were a dead even 35-35 on the boards
• Both teams pounded the ball down low with the Pioneers scoring 34 points in the paint compared the Red Flash's 32 points inside
• Sacred Heard scored 24 points off 16 SFU turnovers

Up Next
Saint Francis travels to play at Wagner (10-17, 8-8 NEC) on Monday, March 4 at 7 p.m.