HACKENSACK, N.J. (March 2, 2015)—Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with 18 points and 12 rebounds for her twevfth double-double of the season as the Sacred Heart women's basketball team dropped the season finale to Fairleigh Dickinson 84-75 in the Stratis Arena Monday night. Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo) was right behind her with a season high 17 points as SHU closes the regular season 16-12 overall and 11-7 against Northeast Conference opponents.
Gabrielle Washington (Mesa, Ariz.) opened the game with a triple, but FDU answered with five points on two buckets claiming a lead they would have for most of the first half. SHU evened the score three times before Kimmel earned the Pioneers a small advantage, 18-16.
The lead was short-lived as Anastasia Williams laid one in igniting a 15-3 Knight run for a 10-point lead, 31-21. With 3:30 left in the half and SHU down 38-31, Alissa Tarsi (Clinton, N.J.) landed a jumper in the paint kick-starting an eight-point streak culminating with Tykera Carter's (Alexandria, Va.) fast break layup to put Sacred Heart back on top 39-38.
Fairleigh Dickinson hit the final two shots of the half to send the Pioneers into halftime trailing 42-39.
The teams exchanged buckets to open the second half before an eight-point FDU run extended the Knights' lead to 54-45. Sacred Heart chipped away at FDU's lead always staying close. Right before the 7:53 media timeout, Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) drained a big three to cut Fairleigh Dickinson's lead to just three points, 67-64. Coming out of the break, the sophomore minimized the gap to just one point getting her own rebound and banking it in off the backboard.
The SHU offense was stopped in its tracks as the Knights responded with seven unanswered points expanding their lead once again, 76-68. Shooting just 29.7% from the field in the second half, the Pioneers could never recover.
Entering the 2015 Northeast Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed, the Pioneers will host No. 5 St. Francis Brooklyn this Sunday on Coach Bike Court in the quarterfinal. For tickets, visit www.SacredHeartPioneers.com/PostseasonTickets.
