LORETTO, Pa. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team dropped its second straight Northeast Conference road contest, 64-48 at Saint Francis University on Monday evening at DeGol Arena. The Hawks drop to 10-11 on the season and 5-6 in league play, while the Red Flash, who led the game bell to bell, improve to 8-13 and 6-4 in the conference.
The Red Flash raced out to an 8-0 lead at the 15:59 mark of the first half after Allison Daly and Britney Hodges each knocked down early three-pointers. After falling behind 12-1 at the 15:10 mark of the opening half after a Daly jumper, Monmouth came back to cut Saint Francis's lead to 12-10 four minutes later after three free throws from senior LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) and a steal and lay in from Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret).
After a jumper from Laura Forbes (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) cut SFU's lead to 16-14 at the 5:06 mark, the Red Flash reeled off five points in a row to regain a seven-point cushion less than a minute later. The Hawks were able to get a pair of baskets with less than a minute to go in the first half, one from freshman Alexis Scott (Somerset, N.J./Franklin) and one from Barber, but Saint Francis' Quinessa Johnson hit a buzzer-beating baseline jumper to end the opening period and give the Red Flash a 27-22 advantage at intermission.
MU was led by Barber's seven first half points and Forbes' five in the opening period. The Hawks shot 29% (9-for-31) from the floor in the first half and committed nine turnovers. MU was able to turn the Red Flash's 14 first half turnovers into 10 points and also scored eight second chance points. Saint Francis University shot 44% (11-for-25) in the first half and was paced by Daly's 10 points and five rebounds.
SFU started the second half the same way it began the contest, scoring the first seven points after intermission to take a 34-22 lead with 15:59 left in the game. Jimenez drilled a three-pointer from the right wing for Monmouth to cut the Red Flash's lead to 42-31 with 12:31 left in the second half. After Barber converted a put back hoop to cut Saint Francis' lead back into single digits at 45-36, the hosts opened up their largest lead of the contest at the time at 53-38 with 7:30 to go in the game.
Barber led all scorers and tied her career-high with 22 points. The senior also pulled down 10 rebounds to log her second double-double of the season and the fourth of her career. Jimenez added eight points, Scott contributed five points and seven rebounds and Elizabeth Kudirka (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview) scored a season-high four points. MU shot 30.5% for the game and committed 14 turnovers. The Hawks also shot 10-22 from the foul line. SFU was led by Daly's 16 points while Britney Hodges added 14. The Red Flash shot 41.8% from the floor for the game, including 47.4% (9-for-19) from three-point range.
The Hawks were without the services of point guard Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) for the second straight contest as the freshman was out with a shoulder injury.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday, February 7 when they host St. Francis College at 3:00 pm.
