WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara)
scored a game-high 17 points as the Monmouth University women's basketball team
held off a second-half charge from St. Francis (N.Y.) to defeat the Terriers,
66-61, Monday night at the Multipurpose Activity Center. With the win, the
Hawks (17-12, 12-6 NEC) clinch the No. 3 seed in the Northeast Conference
Tournament and a home date in the quarterfinals against sixth-seeded LIU
Brooklyn. Opening tip on Saturday from the MAC is scheduled for 4 p.m. The
Terriers end the season at 4-25 (3-15 NEC).
Chevannah Paalvast (Auckland,
New Zealand/Massey) and Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) scored
10 points each for the Hawks. Canady also added six rebounds, while Paalvast
had three steals. Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) also
contributed nine points, three assists and three steals for the Hawks.
Jasmin Robinson led St.
Francis (N.Y.) with 16 points and four assists, while Sarah Benedetti added 14
points and two steals. Jaymee Veney chipped in 12 points and a game-high eight
rebounds for the Terriers.
All 10 Hawks who saw the
court scored at least two points in the opening stanza, as Monmouth built an
11-point lead at the break. Monmouth used a pair of 7-0 runs in the early going
to build a nine-point lead, 16-9, on Shira Shecht's (Pardessiya, Israel/Hadassim)
three-pointer at the 12:38 mark. The lead swelled to 11 points, 22-11, on a
jumper in the paint by Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J./Columbia) before the
Terriers scored six straight to cut the deficit to five.
A Benedetti three-pointer at
the 6:49 mark cut the Hawks' lead to four, 24-20, before Monmouth outscored the
Terriers, 12-5, prior to the conclusion of the first half. Carly Thibault's
(East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) putback of her own missed three-pointer just
before the halftime buzzer put the Hawks back on top by 11, 36-25.
The Terriers
scored 14 of the first 16 points of the second half to take their first lead of
the game on Robinson's free throw at the 14:27 mark. The teams then exchanged
the lead six times before Womack's free-throw at the 5:10 mark gave the Hawks a
53-52 lead. Following a St. Francis turnover, Singer nailed a three-pointer at the
4:49 mark. The Terriers cut the Hawks' lead to two points on two occasions and
trailed by three following a Veney lay-up with 13 seconds left. But Singer
connected on two free throws with 12 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
For the game, St.
Francis (N.Y.) outshot Monmouth, 39.1 percent (18-46) to 36.4 percent (20-55)
from the floor, 43.8 percent (7-16) to 35.7 percent (5-14) from long range and
72.0 percent (18-25) to 70.0 percent (21-30) from the free-throw line. The
Terriers also outrebounded the Hawks, 37-34.
