LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis women's basketball team (6-4, 4-0 NEC) held off LIU (1-3, 1-3 NEC) on Friday in the second game against the Sharks in two days, winning by a 66-62 margin.
 
Saint Francis 66, LIU 62
Records: Saint Francis (6-4, 4-0 NEC), LIU (1-3, 1-3 NEC)
Location: DeGol Arena (Loretto, Pa.)
 
KEY MOMENTS
With 19 seconds on the game clock and a 64-62 SFU lead, LIU gained possession and took a timeout. The Saint Francis defense came up with a defensive stop, forcing a Sharks foul that put Karson Swogger at the line with two seconds to play. Swogger sunk both free throws to cap scoring at 66-62 and put the game out of reach.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Saint Francis put the first four points on the board but LIU tied the game at four after two minutes of play. The Red Flash followed with an 11-3 run, including two three-pointers from Jenna Mastellone, to take a 15-7 lead with 3:14 remaining in the first quarter.

The Sharks would respond but the Red Flash held a 20-13 lead after 10 minutes of play with Mastellone reaching double figures in the first quarter.

LIU opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 20 after two minutes of play in the quarter. SFU scored six-straight points but so did LIU as the game was tied again at 26 with 5:41 remaining in the half.

Saint Francis capped a 7-2 run with a pair of free throws by Haley Thomas with 2:28 to play in the first half as the Red Flash entered the bonus and held a 33-28 lead. SFU led 38-30 going into the locker room.

After the initial second-half basket by LIU, the teams traded three-pointers before SFU strung together a 7-0 run. A three-point play by Swogger gave the Red Flash its first double-digit lead of the day, 46-35, with 7:40 to play in the third quarter. Saint Francis' largest lead of the quarter was 48-35 with 6:28 remaining in the quarter.

Following SFU's 7-0 run, LIU scored the next eight points on the floor to cut the Red Flash lead to 48-43 with 3:44 to play in the third. Sam Miller ended the Saint Francis scoring drought and reached double figures with a three-point play.

LIU trimmed the SFU lead down to 51-47 with 1:12 to play but the final five points of the quarter gave the Red Flash a 56-47 lead entering the final quarter.
The teams traded points in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter as Saint Francis led by a 64-57 margin at the media timeout.

The Sharks scored the next five points, trimming the Red Flash lead to two with 1:30 remaining. Neither team scored again until Swogger sunk a pair of free throws with two seconds to play to secure the 66-62 victory.

STATS
Saint Francis outrebounded LIU 38-37 and totaled 12 assists, compared to LIU's 11. SFU shot 41.7 percent from the field and 88.0 percent from the charity stripe while LIU shot 30.3 percent from the floor and 77.3 percent from the free-throw line. Saint Francis' defense held LIU to shooting 21.2 percent from the floor in the second half.

GAME NOTES

• Though the game was tied three times during the first half, Saint Francis never surrendered the lead.
• Lili Benzel extended her three-pointer streak to 19 consecutive games.
• Swogger totaled at least seven assists for the third-straight game, tying her career-high eight assists.
• Katie Dettwiller recorded her second three-block game of the season.
• SFU outrebounded its opponent for the sixth-straight game.
• Saint Francis had four double-figure scorers – Swogger (17), Miller (12), Benzel (10) and Mastellone (10).
• Mastellone reached double figures for the fifth time this season.
• Swogger reached double figures for the eighth time this season and the fifth game in a row.
• Benzel reached double figures for the seventh time this season.
• Miller reached double figures for the fourth time this season.

 
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To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.