LORETTO, Pa. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team hung on to defeat Saint Francis University, 65-61 in a closely contested Northeast Conference game at DeGol Arena on Thursday evening. The Hawks improve to 7-9 overall on the season and 2-3 in the league with the win, their first on the road this season, while the Red Flash fall to 6-9 and 3-2 in the conference.
"We really challenged the team after the Bryant game and I thought they responded well tonight," said MU head coach Stephanie V. Gaitley. "The staple of our program is defense and we were aggressive tonight in forcing turnovers and played very actively. After they went up six late, our team really dug in and came away with a tough league win."
With the game tied at 57 all with :59.7 seconds left, sophomore Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md. /Bishop McNamara) converted a traditional three-point play after getting fouled while drilling a pull-up jumper, then hit a pair of throws to give the Hawks a 62-57 lead with :21.9 seconds left in the contest. SFU's Britney Hodges connected on a lay in to cut Monmouth's lead to 62-59 with :16.5 second left, but Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin) iced the win with a pair of free throws.
Singer led the way for MU with a career-best 23 points, including 10-of-12 from the foul line. She added three assists and a career-high six steals in 36 minutes, and connected on 3-of-5 from downtown. MU freshman Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) added 13 points and three steals, while Canady contributed 11 points. Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z. /Marian College) added a career-high eight assists and four rebounds in the win.
The Hawks raced out to an early 8-2 lead behind six points, including a right corner three-pointer, from Singer 15:39 left in the opening half. MU maintained its six-point advantage at 12-6 with 11:45 to go before halftime after consecutive baskets from junior Chanel Gomez (Perth Amboy, N.J. /Perth Amboy [Brookdale]).
A Singer steal and score at the other end gave Monmouth a 16-9 lead with just less than eight minutes to go before intermission. Rooney buried a left corner three to put the Hawks up 19-13, and the Hawks took that six-point lead into the final media timeout of the first half with 3:25 showing. Consecutive triples from SFU's Allison Daly tied the contest at 21-21 with 90 seconds remaining in the half, but Womack ended the period's scoring with a jumper at the one-minute mark to give the Hawks a two-point lead at intermission.
Singer led the Hawks, who shot 34.5% in the first half, with eight points. MU hit only 2-of-12 from three-point range in the first half, but did hit 8-of-17 from inside the arc. Daly paced the Red Flash, who committed 13 first half turnovers, compared to six for MU, with eight points in the opening half.
The two teams traded three-pointers early in the second half as Saint Francis' Britney Hodges knocked down two in a row to give the host's a 31-30 lead with 14:50 left in the game. The Red Flash extended their lead to 38-32 after four points from Hodges and a three from Daly with 10:22 left in the game.
Singer got Monmouth back into the game after a sequence that saw her drill two three-pointers, hit two free throws and come up with two steals, the second of which led to an assist on a Canady basket to give the Hawks a 45-44 lead with 5:45 left.
MU shot 50% in the second half (12-of-24) and 41.5% for the game. The Hawks turned SFU's 19 turnovers into 18 points, and logged assists on 14 of their 22 field goals in the game.
Hodges paced three Red Flash in double-figures with 15 points, while Leach chipped in with 14 points and Daly added 11.
Monmouth concludes the league's Western Pennsylvania road trip on Saturday, January 16 when it travels to Moon Township for a 4:00 pm league tilt with Robert Morris.
