Box Score

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team fell to Monmouth Monday night, 69-60. Senior Tamika Guz led the Blackbirds with 19 points in the loss, as LIU fell to 5-19 on the season, and 2-11 in Northeast Conference play.

The Blackbirds had the game within their reach throughout the evening, including an early 4-0 lead on the Hawks in the early minutes of play. But Monmouth went on a 7-0 run to take the lead over LIU, 12-6 at 14:41.

From there, it was push and pull for the rest of the half. As the Hawks went up, LIU would rally back to keep it close.

With 11:00 to play in the first half, sophomore Honor Duvall made a layup to close MU's lead to one, 17-16. And two minutes later, sophomore Fanny Cavallo found junior Cleandra Roberts under the basket. She made the layup, and LIU took the lead, 20-19, with 9:05 left to play.

Monmouth would retake the lead 40 seconds later, but LIU never let them out of its sight. Heading into  the break, the Hawks were up three, 35-32, despite LIU shooting 53% from the field in the first half.

The second half followed much of the same pattern, as Monmouth would build a small lead before LIU would come back to keep it close.
Guz made a jumper from the top of the key to close the lead to just three points, 44-41 at 13:49. Monmouth turned the ball over on the next trip down the court, and senior Krystal Wells took advantage of the opportunity, scoring on a running three-pointer as the shot clock expired to tie the game at 44 at 12:56.

And 45 seconds later, Roberts hit a three-pointer from dead center to give the Blackbirds a lead once more, 47-46.

But Monmouth retook the lead at 7:16 on a jumper from Abigail Martin, and this time, the Hawks would not relinquish it. The Hawks strung together a 9-1 run to give them their widest lead so far, 60-52 with 3:55 on the clock.

LIU made one last valiant attempt to come back, as Wells made a three-pointer with 1:30 on the clock to cut the lead to four points, 63-59, but Monmouth went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 45 seconds to keep the Blackbirds at arm's length. Monmouth took the win, 69-60, to improve to 12-12 overall, and 9-4 in the NEC.

Alysha Womack led all scorers with 24 points for the Hawks, while Carly Thibault scored 17 points for Monmouth. Guz led LIU with 19 points, while Wells added 12. Sophomore Letava Whippy had a strong all-around game, scoring six points, grabbing five rebounds, notching a career-high nine assists, along with two steals. Junior Cleandra Roberts and sophomore Honor Duvall both added seven points in the loss.

Up next for LIU is a rescheduled game with Central Connecticut State. The Blackbirds will travel north to take on the Blue Devils, Wednesday, February 20 at 7 p.m.