Bulldogs drop second-straight NEC contest, lose to Red Flash, 85-72

LORETTO, P.A. – After recording their first Northeast Conference loss at Robert Morris on Saturday, the Bryant University women's basketball team comes up empty in the Keystone State road, losing to Saint Francis U., 85-72, on Monday.

Senior Breanna Rucker (Cincinatti, Ohio) led the Bulldogs (13-10, 10-2 NEC), as she found her 13th double-double of the season off a team-high 18 points and game-high 17 rebounds. Rucker's 17 boards, including nine on the offensive end, ties the power forward's career-best. Sophomore Ivory Bailey (Wyomissing, Pa.) racked up 17 points, while dishing out a season-high six assists.

The Bulldogs struggled from three for the second-straight game, shooting only 20 percent (2-10) from behind the arc, with Rucker and freshman Kierra Palmer (Aberdeen, Md.) draining the only long balls. The squad coughed up the ball on 20 occasions, including 13 steals by the Red Flash (9-14, 7-5). The Bulldogs were able to win back the battle on the boards, outrebounding Saint Francis U. by three, 45-42, but the home team scored 16 second chance points off their 18 offensive boards.

The Red Flash was led offensively by freshman standout Jessica Kovatch and red-shirt sophomore Cydney Smith, who each tallied a game-high 25 points. Kovatch scored off 8-for-20 (40 percent) from the field, while Smith went 9-for-14 (64.3 percent), including 3-for-3 from downtown. Saint Francis U.'s Halee Adams tacked on 15 points, finishing 5-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-4 from 3-point land. As a unit, the Red Flash shot 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from behind the arc.

Bryant was off to an efficient start, taking the lead at the 9:19 mark, when Bailey found senior Tiersa Winder (Baltimore, Md.) in transition for the layup to go up, 4-2. The Black and Gold found their largest lead of the first half, 19-7, when junior Morgan Olander (Mansfield, Conn.) hit an elbow jumper with 1:35 to play in the opening quarter.

Bryant's second quarter-high nine points was erased, as the Red Flash worked their way within one, 36-35, when Smith hit a three from the corner with 1:36 to go in the period. After senior Maureen Leahy (Springfield, Pa.) rejected Smith with 6.6 seconds on the clock, the Red Flash regained possession, when Kovatch threw up a desperation three, hitting it just as the clock expired. The three-point play tied the contest, 40-40, at the intermission, ending Bryant's 19:19 lead through the first half.

Both teams traded baskets at the start of the third, until the Red Flash went on a 13-4 run, putting the home team up by nine, 56-47, with 6:03 to go in the quarter. The Saint Francis U. scoring streak consisted of two Kovatch threes, as the freshman finished 4-of-10 in the contest. Bryant's only four points in the stint came from Bailey, as she earned herself four points from the line, hitting 7-of-8 in the game.

The Red Flash found their first double-digit lead of the game, as Halee Adams drained her fourth three of the contest to advance Saint Francis U.'s margin to 10, 63-53, with 1:50 to play in the third. The hosts pushed their edge to 13, 66-53, when Maya Wynn hit a three with 35 seconds to go in the quarter, before a Bailey free throw cut the margin to 12 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was under Red Flash control, as they found a game-high 17-point lead at the 4:41 mark, before handing the Bulldogs their second-straight loss, 85-72.

The Black and Gold return home to host Wagner on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1 p.m. in the Chace Athletic Center.