St. Francis women’s basketball team loses to Robert Morris

January 26, 2015 By Michael Dominguez Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sarah Benedetti led St. Francis with 20 points in a losing effort against Robert Morris on Saturday. Photo by Rob Abruzzese.

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The St. Francis Terriers women’s basketball team lost 69-64 to Robert Morris University in Brooklyn Heights on Saturday afternoon. The loss dropped them to 5-14 overall and 2-5 in Northeast Conference play heading into Monday afternoon’s weather-induced match against Central Connecticut State.

“I thought we were bad in every facet of the game,” head coach John Thurston said “I thought we were bad defensively, I thought we were bad offensively. I thought they came in with supreme confidence and took us out of everything defensively. It forced us to lose our poise offensively.”

St. Francis took an early lead behind Leah Fechko and Sarah Benedetti, who combined for 19 first half points. However, turnovers and missed free throws hurt them and Robert Morris took advantage.

Robert Morris led in the second half until Benedetti hit a three to take a one-point lead with 12:03 left to play. That lead was short lived before Lou Mataly hit a three to put Robert Morris up 45-43.

In the final minutes Katie Fox hit a big three to tie it at 60 with 1:24 to play, but Anna Stamolamprou immediately came back with a three of her own to put Robert Morris back on top for good.

“It’s really helpful when you hit a big shot like that, but it doesn’t matter when they come down and hit another big shot right away,” Fox said. “That put us down by three again.”

Benedetti finished with 20 points, six assists and five rebounds. Fechko had 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Stamolamprou led Robert Morris with 22 points.

“I don’t think we ever played like we could win the game,” Thurston said. “Robert Morris outplayed us in every facet of the game. We’re supposed to be a team that is a free throw shooting team and we lost it on the free throw line. We’re supposed to take care of the ball and we threw it away for no reason.”

The Terriers play again on Monday, weather permitting, when they host Central Connecticut State University at 3 p.m.