Box Score
FAIRFIELD, CONN. – The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team had an early second half lead over the defending NEC champions Monday night, but saw the Pioneers go on a 17-0 run late in the game to take the win, 61-47. With the loss, LIU is now 3-10 overall, 0-2 in Northeast Conference games.
The first half was a close one, as the score would tie seven times, and the lead would change hands five times. Sacred Heart led the Blackbirds in the early goings, taking a four point lead with a jumper from Gabrielle Washington at 12:36, 9-5 Pioneers.
But layups from Kelly Robinson and Tamika Guz helped tie it up at 9-9 with 9:57 to play.
Another layup, this time from Cleandra Roberts at 8:47, tied the game up at 11-11. And her free throw at 7:07 gave LIU its first lead of the day, 12-11.
30 seconds later, Roberts hit another layup to make it 14-11, but SHU's Kiley Evans answered with a three-pointer to tie it up at 14-14, with 6:25 left in the half.
Wells would tie it up once more at the 5:22 mark, when she was fouled on a steal and made both free throws. LIU took the lead just over a minute later, when Robinson found Genise Presley down low and she made the layup, making it 18-16 Blackbirds.
Sophomore Letava Whippy widened the cushion to four points for LIU when she made a driving layup at 3:22, 20-16, but Sacred Heart would tie it up with two jumpers. With the game tied at 20, freshman Sophie Bhasin landed a jumper off an inbounds play to give LIU the lead again, 22-20, with 1:36 left in the half.
Sacred Heart would tie it seconds later, and neither team was able to convert shots in the last minute of the half, with the score at the halftime tied, 22-22.
Coming out of the break, LIU was able to hold on to the lead for the first nine minutes of the half. Senior Krystal Wells hit two three-point shots to keep the Blackbirds up, and Robinson's free throw at 15:18 gave LIU its' widest lead of the day, 33-28.
Sacred Heart used a layup by Washington at 12:17 to close the lead to one point, 37-36, and from there, the Pioneers went on a 17-0 run. The Blackbirds were held scoreless for nearly six minutes, as SHU widened the lead to 51-37 with 6:44 left to play. Washington and Morgan Merriman combined to score 28 points for the Pioneers in the second half, including most of that run.
Whippy broke the streak with a layup off the inbounds play to make it, 51-39 at 6:43, but LIU would not be able to make up the difference. Courtney Sullivan would score LIU's last points of the day with a three-pointer with 54 seconds left in the game, and Sacred Heart took the win, 61-47.
Wells and Bhasin led scoring for the Blackbirds with eight points apiece. Wells also had a team-high eight rebounds. Robinson added seven points and five assists in the loss.
Up next for the Blackbirds is a doubleheader at the Barclays Center, as both LIU men and women's basketball will take on Mount St. Mary's in Brooklyn. The women's game starts at 12 p.m., with the men to follow at 2:30 p.m.