Women’s Basketball shatters records

Luke Hetrick, Sports Editor

Let’s just put one thing out on the table: these ladies can ball!  The Saint Francis University Women’s Basketball team broke nearly every scoring record imaginable this season. 

Coach Joe Haigh’s high octane offense makes defense hunch over gasping for oxygen by the under 16 timeout.

Two times in the regular season the Red Flash set the NEC record for points in a game.  Both times it was set against last-place Fairleigh Dickinson as the Flash dropped 110 and 111 in those games. 

Averaging 84 points per game and making nearly 30 shots as a unit per game, Saint Francis has tormented opponents all season with their style of play.  The bulk of the scoring has come from standout senior forward, Alli Williams, and junior combo-guard, Alexa Hayward.

Williams, who recently broke the 2000-point scoring mark, is averaging an astonishing 26 ppg and almost 30 in conference play.  Williams set a school-record with 47 points in a matchup with Wagner on March 3 breaking Jess Zinobile’s school record of 46 back in 1999.  It was her third 40-point game of the season. 

Hayward has enjoyed a stellar junior season as she is second on the team in scoring and leads to Flash in assists and three-pointers.  Hayward posted a career high with 30 points against Bryant on February 3. 

While the individual and team records came in bunches throughout the season, countless records were broken when the Red Flash met Sacred Heart in the first-round of the NEC Tournament on Sunday at DeGol Arena. 

With the score standing 53-47 at the end of the first half, fans expected the scoring would continue but not at the rate it finished.

Williams’ layup at the end of regulation tied the game at 102 and sent it into overtime.  In the overtime session, Sacred Heart led by 3 with only a few seconds remaining, a Hayward old-fashioned 3-point play sent the game into a second overtime.  The Flash team was able to grab a quick six-point lead and iced the game at the free throw line. 

SFU held off the Pioneers 132-124, marking the highest scoring game in NEC History.  The game was also the second-highest Division 1 women’s game in history behind a 140-133 Kentucky-Baylor 4 OT classic earlier this season. 

Williams and Sacred Heart’s Gabrielle Washington each tallied 47 points on the afternoon; Washington’s total is also a Sacred Heart record.  Hayward notched a career high herself with 43 points.  The 90 points combined by Williams and Hayward is an NEC record.