LORETTO, Pa. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team fell to Saint Francis (Pa.) 66-60 in a hard fought Northeast Conference game on Saturday afternoon at the DeGol Arena at the Stokes Center.
Brooke McElroy (Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) blocked a shot and buried a game-tying three-point field goal to knot the contest at 60-60 with 1:25 left, but Saint Francis's Britney Hodges answered with what proved to be the game-winner to give the Red Flash a 62-60 lead with less than a minute left in regulation. Monmouth falls to 2-10 on the season and 0-2 in the league with the loss, while the Red Flash improve to 4-9 overall.
The Hawks were led by Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) and Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla. /Deerfield Beach), who scored 12 points apiece.
Monmouth trailed Saint Francis (Pa.) 9-8 at the 13:36 mark of the first half after Whitney Robinson hit a transition lay up for the Red Flash. The Hawks got two easy baskets from Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) and Marbely Montas (Cranford, N.J./Elizabeth), who each logged steals near mid-court and converted them into respective lay ups early on. The Hawks tied the game at 15-15 after Rachel Ferdinand (Califon, N.J./Voorhees) knocked a pass away and saved it over her shoulder to a streaking Bender who converted the lay up at the 9:15 mark of the opening half.
Monmouth took the lead back from Saint Francis (Pa.) at 21-20 when after a scrum, LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md. /Gwynn Park) swiped the ball away from a Red Flash player and threw Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn. /Suffield) a perfect outlet pass and she hit Bender for a lay in at the 5:00 mark of the first half. Randolph drilled a left-wing three-pointer off a drive-and-kick from Montas to give MU a 28-26 lead with two minutes left in the first half. Edwards hit one of two free throws with 23.9 seconds left before halftime to give Monmouth a 29-28 lead at the intermission.
Monmouth was led in the first half by Bender's 10 points and Randolph's seven, while Montas added five rebounds. The Hawks shot 41.7 % from the floor in the first twenty minutes, while limiting the Red Flash to 33.3 % shooting and MU outrebounded the hosts 20-18.
Saint Francis (Pa.) pushed their lead to 43-39 after Shawna Scott beat the shot clock buzzer with a spinning bank shot from the right side at the 14:30 mark of the second half. The Red Flash lead held at four at 51-47 after Britney Hodges converted a lay up to answer a Bender basket at the 9:14 mark of the second half. The Hawks cut the Red Flash lead to five at 57-52 after a Montas rebound and put back at the 4:55 mark of the second half.
Randolph cut the lead to a single possession at 58-55 with a traditional three-point play at the 4:21 mark of the second half. Montas added eight points and nine rebounds while McElroy and Barber added seven points apiece.
Monmouth returns to action on Monday, January 7 when they conclude their foray through western Pennsylvania when they face Robert Morris at 7:30 p.m. in Moon Township.
