Box Score LORETTO, Pa. - Saint Francis U used a 10-0 scoring run over the first and second quarters to take a 30-22 lead and never looked back and picked up the 87-67 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.
The Red Flash (7-10, 5-1 NEC) converted 14 Knight (5-14, 2-4 NEC) turnovers into 19 points in the first half. For the game, the Red Flash forced 26 turnovers that led to 29 points.
Erika Livermore (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds. It is the redshirt senior's 26th career game of 20 or more points.
Kelsey Cruz (Chester, Va./Lloyd C. Bird) had 16 (6-of-14).
Jackie Jackson ( Gaithersburg, Md./ Gaithersburg) had nine points (4-of-10) and four rebounds and
Brianna Thomas (Baldwin, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) added five points and six rebounds.
Fairleigh Dickinson built a six-point lead, 18-12, at the 3:38 mark of the opening stanza. Saint Francis then closed the quarter on a 12-4 run-nine points came via three-pointers.
Head coach
Peter Cinella said, "I liked the way we started the game, leading 22-20, but in the last minute of the first quarter we did not focus enough and gave them too many open threes. If we would have taken better care of the ball and not had 26 turnovers it would have been a closer game".
The Knights scored first in the second quarter to make it 30-24 with a layup from Jackson. The Red Flash answered with three straight three-pointers from Katie Reese, two, and Jessica Kovatch to take a 39-24 lead with 6:44 to play in the second.
After the intermission, the Knights would not get any closer than 15 for the remainder of the game.
A three-pointer from Reese at the 6:27 mark of the fourth gave the Red Flash their largest lead at 31, 82-51. Reese finished with 21 points on the night. Kovatch led all scorers with 26-18 came on three-pointers.
The Knights played well in the closing minutes and got the lead down to 18 via an 11-0 run over 2:22. Jackson had six of her nine points during the run.
Fairleigh Dickinson comes back home, after splitting the Pennsylvania swing, to host Mount St. Mary's on Saturday at 2 p.m. and LIU Brooklyn on Monday, January 25 at 7 p.m.
