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LORETTO, PA. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team hits the road once again this weekend, heading south for a two-game swing through Pennsylvania against two of the top teams in the Northeast Conference. The Blackbirds open the trip with a matchup against Saint Francis U., Saturday, February 15. Tip off is at 1 p.m.Heading into the final four weeks of the regular season, LIU sits in eighth place in the NEC, in what will be the final playoff spot. With only Robert Morris having clinched a playoff spot, the other nine teams all have a shot to make the post-season tournament, and a lot of movement is expected in the standings in the next 30 days.
The last time LIU and SFU faced off, it was a grueling game that saw two teams locked in a run-and-gun contest for 40 minutes, in a match-up that saw the score tied seven times, and the lead change hands 12 times. Saint Francis ended up taking the win, 84-76. Senior forward Alli Williams and guard Aisha Brock combined for 46 of Saint Francis's 84 points. SFU shot 81.8 percent from the free throw line, while the Blackbirds shot only 50 percent from the charity stripe, one of the team's lowest percentages of the season. LIU also struggled from behind the arc, making only four of 17 attempts, just 23.5 percent, in what were the two main differences in the game.
The Blackbirds come in to Monday's matchup off a big win against Central Connecticut State. The two teams were tied in the standings for eighth place, but the Blackbirds took the win, 59-48, to take sole possession of what could be the final playoff spot. Senior Cleandra Roberts led LIU with 26 points and seven rebounds in the win, while freshman Aleisha Myers went 3-for-4 from three-point range to add 11 points. Junior Letava Whippy added eight points, four rebounds and four steals, while junior Kelly Robinson had four points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists.
ALL-TIME SERIES
• Saint Francis U. holds the all-time advantage over LIU, 42-15, including an 81-76 win over the Blackbirds in the Steinberg Wellness Center in January.
SCOUTING THE RED FLASH
• Saint Francis, who sits at 8-4 in the NEC, tied for second place, has the highest scoring offense in the conference, averaging 82.0 points per game, a full 10 points ahead of the next team.
• But the Red Flash also give up the most points, as opponents are averaging 86.4 points against them.
• SFU leads the NEC in steals per game, averaging 9.87 per game as a squad, along with the second-highest block total for a team, 8.3 per game.
• Senior forward Alli Williams is one of only two players in the NEC with a higher scoring average than LIU senior
Cleandra Roberts. Williams averages 24.3 points per game, the most in the conference. She also leads the NEC in steals per game, with 3.00 steals per game, and is third in the conference in rebounds per game, pulling down 9.7 per game.
CLE CHASING 1,000
• Senior
Cleandra Roberts has been on a scoring tear this season, and she currently averages 19.3 points per game, third in the Northeast Conference.
• Her scoring output this season has increased so drastically from her first three seasons at LIU that she's quickly closing the gap on the 1,000 point mark.
• In her freshman year, she averaged 4.1 points per game, scoring 114 all season. In her sophomore season, it was 4.6 points per game, scoring 144 total. In 2012-13, her junior year, she more than doubled those numbers, averaging 9.3 points per game, and scoring 223 over the season. Coming into her senior year, she had 481 career points.
• Nothing in her past compares to the scoring numbers she has put up this season. So far this year, Roberts has averaged 19.3 points per game, scoring 443 points so far.
• Her current career total sits at 924 points, just 76 points shy of the 1,000-point mark, with six regular season games left, and the potential of more with the NEC Tournament on the horizon.
• She would become the 18th player in LIU Brooklyn women's basketball history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
LATE SEASON FIRSTS
• LIU's come-from-behind win over Sacred Heart was the first time this year that the Blackbirds won a game when they had been trailing at the half.
• In the Blackbird win over CCSU on the road, LIU never let CCSU lead. It was the first time this season LIU hasn't trailed in a game.