STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The St. Francis Brooklyn women's basketball team (11-7, 7-3 NEC) headed out on the road Sunday afternoon to play Wagner (11-8, 5-5 NEC) and came away with an 80-69 win, sweeping the season series with the Staten Island school.
The Terriers, who sit in second place in the NEC standings, have now won seven of their last eight games against conference opposition.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With St. Francis in front 6-5 early on, Nevena Dimitrijevic dished inside to find Khaleah Edwards cutting towards the rim to make it 8-5 with three minutes played. On the following possession, Edwards was the distributor, finding Ally Lassen inside for an easy bucket to make the lead five.
Dimitrijevic came up with a rebound off a Wagner miss with 5:06 remaining in the quarter and found Edwards racing the other way for a quick layup to make it 14-7 and prompt the first Wagner timeout. After the teams traded three pointers, a backdoor play for Alyssa Fisher made the score 19-10, and the quarter ended with the score 22-12.
Into the second quarter, a nice move from Fruzsina Horvath with her back to the basket made it 24-13 with 8:20 to play. Ally Lassen got her sixth and seventh points of the first half, coming up with an offensive rebound and cleaning up a missed layup attempt from Horvath.
Edwards, who would finish the half with 10 points, scored on two straight possessions to make it 32-21 with 5:32 left in the quarter. Zharia Hutchinson kept the offense moving, draining a mid range jumper to give the Terriers a 13 point lead, the largest of the game up to that point.
The Terriers were ahead 38-27 with 20 minutes played with Ally Lassen's team leading 11 points setting the pace.
Heading into the second half, Dimitrijevic answered an opening Wagner field goal with a three ball to make the score 41-29. The Seahawks responded with a full court press in an attempt to disrupt the Terriers' offense.
With 7:05 to play in the quarter, two straight driving layups from Dimitrijevic made the St. Francis Brooklyn lead 49-35. Coming out of media timeout, the junior guard drained a corner three to push the lead to 17 with 4:45 left. The Terriers were on a 10-2 run since early in the quarter.
Five unanswered points from the Seahawks made it a 12 point game, prompting a Terrier timeout. But, with under a minute to play, Edwards restored the visitor's 14-point lead and the quarter ended with the score 60-47.
With momentum beginning to swing Wagner's way early in the fourth quarter, Dimitrijevic sunk a key jumper to make it 62-50. Alyssa Fisher then added two points of her own on the following possession to make it a 14 point advantage once again with 7:14 to play.
The Seahawks continued with their aggressive full court press as they tried to get a foothold in the game, challenging the Terrier offense.
St. Francis took advantage of their opponents being in the bonus, with Alyssa Fisher and Ally Lassen both getting to the foul line to keep the lead hovering around 10. Time was on the Terriers' side down the stretch; despite a three pointer from Alex Cohen, who was Wagner's leading scorer for the afternoon, with 1:18 to play that cut their lead to 9.
SFBK would see the game out for an 80-69 win to sweep the season series against Wagner.
TEAM LEADERS
Nevena Dimitrijevic had yet another great game, scoring a team high (and season high) 24 points. Her 9 made and 10 attempted free throws were also season highs, and she also had four assists and four steals.
Khaleah Edwards contributed 15 points and 4 assists and played a team high 39 minutes
Ally Lassen scored 15 points of her own and had a team leading eight rebounds.
NEXT UP: St. Francis Brooklyn heads to Teaneck to play FDU in a battle of first versus second on Thursday, Feb. 3. Tip-off at the Rothman Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and can streamed on NEC Front Row.