The Monmouth University women's basketball team had their two game Northeast Conference winning streak snapped as they fell to the Sacred Heart Pioneers 60-51 Saturday afternoon at the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Conn. The loss drops the Hawks to 9-6 and 3-2 in the NEC while the defending conference regular season and tournament champion Pioneers improve to 10-6 and 5-0 in the league.
After trailing 15-0 to begin the game, the Hawks fought back to eventually take a 39-33 lead around the 10 minute mark of the second half before Sacred Heart pulled away for the win.
Monmouth was led by Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech), who had 10 points and five rebounds and Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield), who chipped in with nine points, five assists and two steals.
The Hawks began the game cold from the floor as Sacred Heart came out of the gate on a 15-0 run which was snapped by a Bender lay-up at the 13:14 mark of the first half.
Monmouth then responded by going on a 10-2 run of their own to trim the lead to 17-10 at the 9:35 mark behind four points from LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park).
The Hawks whittled the Sacred Heart lead back into single digits at 22-14 following a Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) drive and lay-up at the 5:10 mark.
Monmouth was able to cut the Pioneer lead to its smallest of the first half at intermission as Jimenez found Rachel Ferdinand (Califon, N.J./Voorhees) for a lay-up with less than 10 seconds left in the opening stanza.
The Blue and White came out of the locker room and ran to their first lead at 28-27 at the 17:26 mark following two Jimenez's buckets and a Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) three-pointer. The Pioneers then took the lead back, but Bender hit a lay-up and was fouled, but missed the free throw and the game was deadlocked at 32-32 at the 14:18 mark of the game.
Monmouth then went on their second big run of the game as they outscored Sacred Heart 7-1 over the next three minutes to take a 39-33 lead as freshman Brooke McElroy (Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) drained a three-pointer from the left corner to cap the scoring spree.
The Pioneers regained the advantage at 44-41 when reigning Northeast Conference Player of the Year Amanda Pape hit a tough baseline jumper at the 6:30 mark. They upped their lead for good to 51-43 as Pape hit consecutive baskets at the four minute mark and Lisa Moray drained a three-pointer.
Jimenez added eight points and seven rebounds while Barber scored five and pulled down eight boards.
Monmouth returns to action when they travel to Quinnipiac on Monday, January 15 for a 1 p.m. tip with the Bobcats.
