| LORETTO, Pa. - Mount St. Mary's nearly spoiled Saint
Francis (Pa.)'s Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title
hopes, but Brittany Lilley scored a layup with 3.7 seconds left in
overtime to give the Red Flash a 62-61 win in women's
basketball action on Monday. With the win, the Saint Francis (Pa.)
won the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming
NEC Tournament.
Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) paced the Mount
(8-21, 5-13 NEC) with 13 points while Sandra Andresson (Tallinn,
Estonia/Audentes School) added 11 points and Ashley Christie
(Miamisburg, Ohio/Archbishop Alter) chipped in 10 points in the
loss.
Samantha Leach gave the Red Flash (18-11, 14-4 NEC) a 60-57 lead
with 2:06 in the extra session on two free throws. Andresson and
Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Seconary) each hit a
pair at the line to give the Mountaineers a 61-60 lead with 1:20
left. After a Saint Francis (Pa.) offensive foul, Andresson had a
chance to increase the margin but missed two charity tosses with 19
seconds remaining and Allison Daly came down with the rebound with
14 ticks on the clock. Lilley then got the ball and scored off the
glass with 3.7 seconds left to give the Red Flash the lead for
good. The Mountaineers inbounded the ball, but could not get a shot
off.
Leach led all scorers with 26 points while Lilley added 11 points
and Alexandra Williams registered 10 points and 11 rebounds in the
winning effort.
Mount St. Mary's seemed to have the game in its control midway
through the second half after the squad built a 52-37 advantage
with 9:35 left. The Mount used a 19-9 run to start the stanza to
grab the 15-point advantage. Jessie Kaufman (Damascus,
Md./Damascus) powered the run with two 3-pointers, including a trey
at 9:35 to give Mount St. Mary's its largest margin of the
night.
Saint Francis (Pa.) then used a full court press and a 17-2 run
the rest of the way to tie the game and send it to overtime. Leach
had seven points during the run.
Mount St. Mary's took the lead with 14:50 left in the first half
and maintained the margin the rest of period. Leach outscored Dunn
5-4 to start the game before Mann, Dunn and Grossett each recorded
two points to hand the Mountaineers a 10-5 lead at 14:02.
Saint Francis (Pa.) cut the margin to 12-11 with 10:10 on the
clock thanks to a 6-2 run with four points coming from Williams.
Mount St. Mary's responded with a 14-8 run to grab a 26-19 lead.
Grossett and Christie powered the spurt with five points
apiece.
The Red Flash rallied to cut the margin to 26-24 after Williams
and Leach combined for five points in span of 41 seconds.
The Mount then scored seven of the final 11 points in the stanza
to go into the locker room with a 33-28 lead. Dunn and Grossett
paced the Mountaineers in the first half with nine points
apiece.
Selina Mann (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) finished with six
points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. The
sophomore finished as the league leader in steals and ranked second
in assists.
The Mountaineers only missed four free throws in the game, but
two came in the final five minutes of regulation and two at the end
of overtime.
Dunn finished her career as the program's all-time leader in
games played and games started with 117 games. The senior ranks
16th in program history for points (1,191), fourth in rebounds
(851) and eighth in double-doubles in Division I history (15). Dunn
is the fifth player in program history to record 1,100 points and
800 rebounds in her career. Westbrooks ended her career with 569
points and 588 rebounds. The senior ranks 13 in Mount Division I
history with six career double-doubles.
Mount St. Mary's ended the season 8-21 overall and 5-13 in NEC
play, missing the NEC Tournament for the second-consecutive
year.
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