FAIRFIELD, Conn. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team fell 70-50 at first place Sacred Heart in Northeast Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center. Monmouth drops to 14-12 on the season and 8-7 in the league with the loss, while the Pioneers improve to 19-7 and 16-0 in the conference.
Senior guard Marbely Montas (Cranford, N.J./Elizabeth) gave MU an early 3-2 lead after converting a traditional three-point play with 19:11 left in the first half and then stole the ball from Sacred Heart's Alisa Apo on the ensuing possession. SHU hit five of its first six shots en route to taking a 13-6 lead with 15:49 left in the first half paced by six points from center Kaitlin Sowinski. The first-place Pioneers stretched their advantage to 20-8 with 11:49 left in the first half after Apo converted a jumper in the lane.
Sacred Heart upped their lead to 28-14 after Sowinski hit a pair of free throws with 8:23 left before intermission. The Pioneers continued their hot-shooting first half, racing out to a 38-18 lead with 2:55 to go in the first half after Apo buried a corner jumper. Freshman Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) drained a three-pointer at the first half buzzer to cut the SHU lead to 41-22 at halftime.
MU shot 33.3% in the first half and was paced by senior Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) who scored eight points. Sacred Heart shot 50% from the field and was led by Apo's 12 points. The Pioneers outrebounded Monmouth by a 20-12 first half margin and outscored the Hawks 15-1 on second chance points and 17-5 off of MU's 11 first half turnovers. SHU's 41 first-half points are the most Monmouth has allowed in the opening half since allowing that same number to then #15/17 Virginia on December 18.
Consecutive three-pointers from Bender and Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) cut Sacred Heart's lead to 41-28 with 18:45 left in the game, but the Pioneers took a 47-30 lead three minutes later after back-to-back jumpers from Khalia Cain. Sacred Heart maintained a 17-point advantage at 60-43 with 7:44 left in the contest paced by a pair of Maggie Cosgrove three-pointers.
The Hawks were paced by Bender's 18 points, moving her ahead of Jen Brzucki into seventh place on the all-time scoring list, and seven rebounds while Canady added 10 points. Montas added a season-high nine points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists compared to only one turnover. Apo and freshman Callan Taylor paced five Pioneers in double figures with 14 points. Cosgrove contributed 13, Sowinski added 12 points and Khalia Cain chipped in with 11 points. SHU shot 52.8% from the floor and outrebounded Monmouth 33-29. The Pioneers turned MU's 16 turnovers into 23 points in the game and outscored the Hawks 32-20 in the paint.
Monmouth returns to action on Monday, February 23 when they host defending two-time NEC Tournament Champion Robert Morris at 7:00 pm.
