BROOKLYN, N.Y. (January 12, 2015)—After a late comeback, the Sacred Heart women's basketball team fell to the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, 77-74, in its first overtime game of the season Monday night in the Steinberg Wellness Center. Lerae Ettienne (Kensington, Md.) led the Pioneers with a career-best 20 points shooting 80.0% (8-for-10) from the floor as SHU drops to 7-7 on the season and 2-2 in Northeast Conference play. The win improves the Blackbirds to 5-10 and 2-2 against NEC opponents.
Sophomore Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) had the hot hand through most of the game and came close to a double-double with 19 points and seven rebounds.
The Blackbirds opened the game with six straight points, forcing Sacred Heart Head Coach Jessica Mannetti to call a timeout to regroup the Pioneers early. The break proved fruitful as SHU notched the next two baskets to get on the board. Chipping away at LIU's lead, a triple from the left wing by Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo.) brought the Pioneers within one of the Blackbirds, 8-7. LIU answered with two shots to once again widen the gap, but the Pioneers offense kept fighting.
Down by just two points, 20-18, at the under twelve media timeout, Ettienne tied the game at 20 with a lay-in. The lead flip-flopped as the teams went on to exchange points. The Blackbirds maintained a 27-24 lead while both teams suffered a nearly six-minute scoring drought. Shepard drove the open lane for the lay-in snapping the streaking and minimizing LIU's lead to one point, 27-26.
Paris Jones hit a jumper with 2:44 remaining in the half kick-starting a nine-point LIU run to close out the period with a 38-28 lead.
The Pioneers were clicking on both sides of the ball to start the second half forcing two Blackbird turnovers while on a six-point run in the opening minutes. Despite strong second-half play from SHU, LIU maintained their lead for the majority of the half.
With 5:49 on the clock, Shepard fed Gabrielle Washington (Mesa, Ariz.), who tallied 15 points in the game, under the basket for the Pioneers' first lead of the game, 63-62. Running the same play, Ettienne extended Sacred Heart's lead by two points with another lay up.
With SHU up by four, the Blackbird went on a mini run which was capped off by a tough lay in from Letava Whippy that tied the game at 69 with just 36 seconds on the clock.
After making the first basket of overtime, Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.), the Pioneers' leading scorer this season, picked up her fifth foul of the game and sent Whippy to the line where she made one of her two shots.
Moments later, Sophie Bhasin landed a jumper in the paint to give the Blackbirds a one-point advantage. With 2:24 left to play, Ettienne evened the score with a made free throw before Drew Winter found the open shot for two more LIU points. Bhasin followed that with a lay-in to put the Blackbirds up by four with 1:34 remaining.
Ettienne made one final shot for the Pioneers bringing them within two, but it wasn't enough as LIU held SHU scoreless the rest of the way.
Sacred Heart continues the road trip next weekend as they travel to Western Pennsylvania to face the Saint Francis U Red Flash Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and the Robert Morris Colonials Monday at 2:00 p.m.
