WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team defeated Saint Francis University, 77-74, in overtime, in Northeast Conference play on Thursday evening at the Multipurpose Activity Center. The Hawks, who topped the Red Flash for the second time in a week, improve to 9-9 overall and 4-3 in the league, while SFU falls to 7-10 and 4-3 in the conference. The game, which featured 13 lead changes and 10 ties, was MU's first overtime contest since December 8, 2008.
With the contest tied at 65-65, MU turned the ball over with 2.3 seconds left in regulation and Saint Francis University's Samantha Leach heaved a three from just inside half court that rimmed out, sending the contest into overtime.
Freshman Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) opened the extra period's scoring with a triple from straight away, giving the Hawks a 68-65 lead with four minutes left that they would not relinquish.
Womack paced the Hawks, and tied her career-high, with 25 points and added a career-best six assists. She was 10-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from beyond three-point range. Sophomore guard Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md. /Bishop McNamara) added 14 points and four rebounds in 42 minutes of action, while freshman Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z. /Marian College) contributed career-highs with 12 points and eight boards in 39 minutes.
The Hawks started out a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, knocking down a pair of three-pointers, to take an early 10-6 lead with 15:57 left in the first half. Freshman Carly Thibault (East Lyme, Conn. /East Lyme) converted a traditional four-point play, drilling a left corner three and swishing home the foul shot, to give the Hawks a 19-9 advantage with 8:05 left before halftime.
The Red Flash got back into the game and were able to tie the contest at 21-21 with five minutes left in the first half after going on a 9-0 scoring run, keyed by five points from Leach. SFU then took its first lead since it had a 4-3 advantage with 18:53 showing in the half on a Britney Hodges left-wing triple to go up 26-23 around the three-minute mark.
Saint Francis University took a 32-27 lead into intermission, paced by 15 first-half points from Leach. A pair of freshmen, Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J. /Columbia) and Womack each paced Monmouth with seven points apiece in the opening half.
Womack swished a high-arching, shot-clock beating three to help MU regain the lead at 35-34 with 17:00 left in the second half. The second half saw nine lead changes and seven ties as neither squad led by more than four points all period.
Martin added nine points and six rebounds for Monmouth, while Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) and Thibault each added seven points and two assists. MU shot 38.8% (26-of-67) for the game, but connected on 50% (17-of-34) of its shots in the second half and overtime. The Hawks only committed eight turnovers, compared to 22 for the Red Flash, and outscored SFU 27-11 off of those miscues. MU connected on 10-of-27 from downtown and 15-of-18 from the foul line, including 5-of-6 in overtime.
Saint Francis University, which outrebounded Monmouth 48-32 and outscored the Hawks 38-16 in the paint, was paced by Leach's 25 points. Hodges and Daly each added 12 points for the Red Flash, who shot 43.8% (28-of-64) for the game.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday, January 23 when it hosts Robert Morris at 12:00 pm, in a league game that will be televised on Fox College Sports.
