January 31, 2009
JOHNSON GOES FOR CAREER-HIGH BUT BULLDOGS FALL, 80-75, IN
BARNBURNER TO ST. FRANCIS
boxscore
LORETTO, PA. - The Bryant University women's basketball team
played the definition of an up-and-down basketball game Saturday
afternoon, but came up just short to St. Francis University as they
fell, 80-75, in Loretto, Pennsylvania despite co-captains
Kesley O'Keefe (Warren, Mass. / Quaboag)
and Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y. / Union Endicott)
combining for 49 points.
Johnson scored a career-high 25 points while O'Keefe tallied her
fifth 20-plus point game with 24. The junior forward also had nine
rebounds, coming just one shy of her sixth double-double and
third-straight.
A back-and-forth first half ended with St. Francis University
(7-13) taking a slight, 33-31, advantage into the locker room,
forcing 13 Bulldog turnovers in the half while holding an 18-10
scoring advantage in the paint. Bryant shot 50 percent from the
floor including four-of-six from beyond the arc in the first twenty
minutes.
Neither team seemed to be able to find an edge at the beginning
of the game, with two ties and eight lead changes over the first
eight and a half minutes.
The Bulldogs (6-13) made the first run of the contest, scoring
seven-straight points including a lay-in from Siamone
Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y. / Newburgh Free Academy), a jumper
from Johnson and a top of the key three from O'Keefe, giving Bryant
a 19-13 lead with 10:05 to go in the first half.
Johnson paced Bryant with nine points in the frame while playing
in all twenty minutes. O'Keefe went into the break with seven
points and four boards, while Bennett also had four boards to
compliment her six points.
A transition bucket plus a foul by Lekia Cowen
(Hopedale, Mass. / Hopedale) gave Bryant the biggest lead
for either side of the half at 29-22 with a little over five
minutes showing on the clock.
Another two from Bennett kept the lead at seven, giving Bryant a
31-24 lead with 4:38 to go. But that would be the last points of
the half for the Bulldogs, as the Red Flash went on a 9-0 run to
take a two point lead before halftime. Samantha Leach led the run,
scoring eight points in the final five minutes, leading all scorers
with 13 points at the break. Leach's two with 24 ticks left gave
St. Francis its first lead since the 13:10 mark.
The Bulldogs wasted no time in tying the game coming out of
halftime, as Johnson hit a driving lay-up off the glass just 50
seconds into the frame, knotting the score at 33 apiece.
The second half mirrored the first, as the two squads continued
to stay with each other basket-for-basket, with three more ties and
eight lead changes through the first 7:36. Bryant regained the lead
on a right-wing trey from O'Keefe, taking a 38-35 lead with 18:09
to go in the game. O'Keefe scored 11 of the Bulldogs' first
15 points in the second half.
St. Francis caught fire from the outside midway through the
half, connecting on three-straight from downtown to go on an 11-3
run and take a 57-51 advantage with 10:24 left on the clock.
A jumper from the left side by Johnson put an end to the run,
and began a stretch that saw the senior captain score ten of the
next 13 Bulldog points, as Jaime Campbell (Springfield,
Mass. / Minnechaug Regonal) scored the other three from
the free-throw line.
Leading by four points, Whitney Robinson drew the fourth foul on
O'Keefe while getting fouled, sending the Bulldogs' leading scorer
to the bench at the 9:10 mark. An offensive rebound and put-back by
Leach on the ensuing Red Flash possession gave St. Francis its
biggest lead of the game at eight with 9:04 left.
Robinson tallied 11 points in 11 minutes and was one of five Red
Flash players to register double figures. Freshman guard Brittany
Lilley paced the St. Francis offense with 20 points for the game on
7-for-12 shooting. As a team, the Red Flash shot 63 percent from
the floor in the second half and 50 percent for the game.
The Bulldogs continued to scratch and claw their way back into
the game, as Johnson knocked down a three with 7:10 to go to cut
the St. Francis lead back down to five.
The lead hovered around six until O'Keefe returned to the lineup
and scored four-straight on back-to-back possessions to bring
Bryant within four with 4:23 remaining.
Another Robinson two extended the lead to six before Courtney
Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass. / Lowell) picked the perfect time to
score her first points of the game, drilling a deep three from the
right corner to bring Bryant all the way back to within three at
the 3:48 mark.
Two straight stops by the Bulldogs, set the game up for a great
finish, as Schermerhorn found a cutting Johnson at the free-throw
line for an open jumper, cutting the deficit to one at 74-73 with
2:46 left.
But the Red Flash would respond on the very next possession, as
Britney Hodges found space on the left wing and connected on a
three, staking St. Francis once again to a four point lead.
There was no quit in the Bulldogs though, as tremendous hustle
on the next two possessions, including grabbing three-straight
offensive boards with less than a minute to go, allowed Bryant to
keep possession and eventually get the ball to O'Keefe in the paint
for a left-handed hook shot in the paint, making the score 77-75
with 31.3 seconds on the clock.
The Bulldogs were forced to foul Hodges on the inbounds pass,
and the junior stepped up to the line and hit two big free-throws
to extend the lead back to four at 79-75 and make it a two
possession game with 29.2 ticks to go.
Looking to get the ball inside, Schermerhorn went hard to the
hoop but did not get the foul call with the clock winding down, and
the Red Flash grabbed possession with less than ten seconds left.
Bryant fouled Hodges again with 7.1 seconds left, as she knocked
down one of two to give St. Francis the five point victory, as
there was only time for one last deep three for the Bulldogs that
was just off the mark.
The Bulldogs shot 47.4 percent for the game and only committed
five turnovers in the second half, but had trouble slowing down the
Red Flash attack. St. Francis has now won four-straight games.
Bryant looks to get back on track in their second of a four-game
road trip as they head to Moon Township, Pennsylvania on Monday
night to take on the Colonials of Robert Morris (7 pm).
