Feb. 17, 2007

Box Score

Loretto, PA - In a tale of two halves St. Francis (PA) defeated Wagner 79-68 earlier today at DeGol Arena. The Seahawks jumped out to an eight-point halftime lead by shooting a blistering 61.5 percent in the first half. However the Red Flash matched them in the decisive second-stanza by hitting at an identical 61.5 percent while being aided by a 20-6 advantage in points from the charity stripe for the game on their way to outscoring Wagner 50-31in the second.

With the loss the Seahawks fall to 3-22 and 1-13 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Red Flash improves to 6-20 and 3-12 in the NEC.

Junior Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) had a game-high 18 points on 9-16 shooting while sophomore Olivia Nagle (Acton, MA / Acton-Boxborough) scored 14 points and senior Jessie Collins (Crofton, MD / Arundel) dropped in 10 points to lead a balanced offensive-attack that hit on 50.0 percent (28-56) of their shots for the game. However Wagner was outrebounded 40-20, including 18-8 on the offensive end, and the Red Flash shot 51.9 percent (27-52) from the floor.

Despite the long bus-trip the day before the Seahawks showed no ill effects, shooting a blistering 61.5 percent (16-26) in the first half, including 5-8 from beyond the arc, in sprinting out to a 37-29 halftime-lead. After falling behind 5-2 to start the game, Wagner ripped off seven-straight points to up 9-5. Following a pair of SFPA free throws, sophomore Casey Stokes (Hummelstown, PA / Lower Dauphin) triggered an 8-2 Wagner run with two of her three first-half three pointers to put the Seahawks up 17-9 with 11:56 to go in the half. The Green & White would push their lead out to 11 on two occasions, only to see SFPA hit a three pointer at the end of the half to make it 37-29 at intermission while foreshadowing what would be a blistering second-half for the Red Flash.

With Wagner up 48-40 with 14:18 to go in the game, SFPA used a 11-2 run, highlighted by two-straight three-point plays to take their first lead since early in the first half at 51-50 with 11:50 to go. The Seahawks would wrestle the lead back with a three-point play of their own by Nagle, making it 53-51. However that would be the last lead of the day for the Green & White as Lauren Donahoe hit the go-ahead three pointer on the next possession for the Red Flash to begin a game-changing 25-8 run that would give SFPA their biggest lead of the day at 76-61 with 1:39 to go on their way to a 79-68 victory.

Beth Halter led four double-figure scorers for the Red Flash with 14 points.

The Seahawks will finish their road trip in the Keystone state with a game at Robert Morris on Monday at 7 pm.