DeLand, Fla. - A see-saw women's basketball battle with 10 ties and 21 lead changes ended in favor of St. Francis (Pa.) (3-6) as the Red Flash edged Stetson (1-9) 63-61 on the first day of the Hatter Classic at the Edmunds Center on Monday. Junior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) scored a season-high 21 points, one shy of her career high, and handed out five assists to lead the Hatters. Sophomore guard Kerri Simpson (Charleston, Tenn.) added 17 points for Stetson.
Down by one with just under two minutes left, Simpson drew a foul and made two free throws to give the Hatters a 59-58 advantage. A Stetson foul on the ensuing possession sent Brittany Lilley to the line, where she knocked down the free throws with 1:17 to go that sent St. Francis ahead to stay. Lilley also made a jumper with 35 seconds left that extended the lead to 62-59; although a Brown bucket with 10 seconds left cut the deficit to one, Stetson would not regain possession again and the Red Flash hung on by two.
A jumper by Quinessa Johnson with three seconds left gave Saint Francis a 21-20 halftime lead; neither team led by more than four points in the first half. Stetson quickly erased that small advantage coming out of the locker room, going up by four with 14:31 remaining. Saint Francis then embarked on a 12-2 run to take a 40-34 lead, the largest of the game for either team, with 12:02 to play.
An 11-4 Stetson spurt over the next four minutes put the Hatters back in the lead at the under-eight media timeout, but the Red Flash would respond again as star guard Britney Hodges knocked down several clutch shots to put her team ahead 52-47 with just under six minutes left. Stetson rallied once more to set the stage for the frenetic action in the final two minutes.
Hodges carried the Red Flash to the win with 28 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists. She finished just two points shy of becoming the first Stetson opponent since Gardner-Webb's Sequenta Blackman in January 2004 to score 30 points against the Hatters. She knocked down five of seven three-point attempts and played all 40 minutes.
Junior forward Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla.) scored six points, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and blocked two shots for Stetson while junior center Daphnee Frieson (Mobile, Ala.) contributed four points, eight rebounds and two blocks of her own. Frieson has blocked a shot in all 10 games to start her Hatter career.
In earlier action at the Hatter Classic, American defeated Buffalo 54-43 behind 18 second-half points from forward Michelle Kirk. In tomorrow's action, American will face St. Francis for the championship at 1 p.m. while the Hatters take on Buffalo at 3:30 p.m. in the consolation game. Live Stats for both games and Bill Topping's Hatter Vision webcast for the UB-Stetson game are available at www.GoHatters.com.
