Box Score
PDF Box Score
FAIRFIELD, CONN. – The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team suffered a tough road loss in the William H. Pitt Center Saturday afternoon, as the Blackbirds dropped a close game to Sacred Heart, 46-44. The sting of the loss was offset by a career highlight for senior and team captain Cleandra Roberts, as she led the team with 20 points and 11 rebounds, scoring her 1,000th career point in the second half.
Roberts, who had just 481 career points coming into her senior year, has scored 524 points in just one year, to put her career total at 1,005 points so far. She is just the 18th player in LIU history to eclipse the 1,000 point mark.
It was a close game throughout for the Blackbirds, in a loss that came down to the final call of the game. LIU opened the game on a jumper from Roberts just two seconds after tip-off, in what would become a 7-2 run for the Blackbirds. SHU shot just 25 percent from the field in the early going, but junior Gabriell Washington would get the Pioneers going. The guard scored seven straight points for SHU to single-handedly tie the score up at 7-7 with 14:32 to play. The two teams stayed close from there, with neither squad taking more than a three-point lead. But the Blackbirds would string together a 7-0 run, capped when junior Letava Whippy had a steal on the press break, and made the layup to give LIU an 18-14 lead with 7:55 left in the half.
But Sacred Heart went on a 16-0 run, including 11 points from Washington, to take its widest lead of the day, 30-18 with 3:22 left to play in the half. Roberts would score five more points for LIU in the half to close the lead to 30-23, and Sacred Heart took the seven-point lead into the break.
SHU managed to hold LIU at arm's length for the first seven minutes of the first half. Sophomore Sophie Bhasin hit a three pointer at 13:04, and Roberts had her moment shortly after, helping shift momentum back to the Blackbirds.
Roberts, who had 13 points in the first half, needed just two points to reach the 1,000 point mark, and she did that with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game. Senior Fanny Cavallo grabbed a defensive rebound and fed it out to junior Kelly Robinson on the left side. Robinson found Roberts breaking down the court, and lobbed her the ball. One dribble and Roberts put it in, scoring her 1,000th career point, and closing the SHU lead to 37-32.
Two minutes later, Roberts converted a traditional three-point play to tie the score at 37-37 with 10:39 to play. Cavallo would added a layup at 8:56 to give LIU the lead, 39-37, capping the 12-0 run for LIU.
From there, the two teams were locked together. The score would tie back up twice, as Sacred Heart made key shots down the stretch, and LIU answered every time. Washington hit a jumper with 3:10 left on the clock to give the Pioneers a 45-41 advantage, but Bhasin would answer 40 seconds later with a layup, to make it 45-43.
The final two minutes saw several missed shots on both sides of the court. Whippy drained a free throw with 19 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to two points, 46-44. Headed down the court, LIU fouled an SHU player, who missed the front end of her one-and-one opportunity. LIU had the ball with five seconds left on the clock, and Roberts drove down the court, with one final chance to tie the game and force overtime. But on her made layup as the clock expired, the referees called her for a charge, and SHU took the win in dramatic fashion, 46-44.
Roberts led the Blackbirds with a double-double, scoring 20 points and bringing down 11 rebounds. Cavallo had 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Whippy added 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Gabriell Washington led all players with 26 points for Sacred Heart.
With the loss, LIU now stands at 9-19 overall, 7-10 in the Northeast Conference.
Up next, the Blackbirds will travel half a mile up the road to take on St. Francis Brooklyn, Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m., in the 21st annual Battle of Brooklyn.