JOLIET, Ill. --
Symone Harrell scored 18 of her 23 points in the second half, including three game-sealing free throws all with just one second remaining, to lift the University of St. Francis women's basketball team to a 73-69 non-conference victory over St. Thomas University (Fla.) on Tuesday night at the Sullivan Center.
Free throws proved crucial as head coach
Jimmy Copenhaver's club bested the visitors in that category by a 41.7 percent margin, to gain a 10-1 advantage in points. That along with a 32-20 scoring margin on points in the paint helped offset a shaky turnover performance, with the Saints (2-1) giving away 18 points off turnovers to the Bobcats.
With St. Thomas (2-2) holding a six-point lead (39-33) after the first half, the Bobcats would go ahead 49-34 to take their largest lead of the evening three minutes into the third quarter. The Saints countered with a game-altering 14-0 scoring explosion sparked by a hard-fought layup from
Baylei Johnson and capped with two three pointers from
Coryn Fromm and Harrell to close the scoring gap to one point (49-48), before a long-range missile from
Malayah Scott after a STU free throw gave the Saints their first lead of the night since the three-minute mark in the first quarter. The Bobcats would retake the lead on their next possession and hold that advantage until an
Ellie Fowler layup with 7:35 remaining in the final stanza pushed the score to 60-59 in the Saints' favor.   That layup was a part of an 11-0 scoring outburst from USF - its second double-digit run of the second half - but two quick turnovers from St. Francis on its next two possessions would result in a five-point swing and quickly halt that momentum by bringing the score to 67-64 with three minutes to go.  On the Saints' next possession, Harrell came through again, connecting for a crucial layup deep in the paint while drawing the foul to allow for the opportunity of a three-point play. The junior would drain the subsequent free throw and give the Saints a six-point advantage before back-to-back baskets from the Bobcats marked the score at 70-69. Later with just one second remaining, Harrell would then drain another free throw before a STU in-bounding turnover followed by a foul put the junior at the line to connect for two more, and allow USF to hold on and seal the 73-69 victory.
St. Francis finished the game converting at a 42.2 percent mark from the field (27-of-64), while St. Thomas registered a 39.4 percentage (28-of-71). STU held a slight lead over the Saints in second chance points (20-17) and points off turnovers (18-16), while USF claimed the advantage from the free throw line with USF netting 10 of its 15 attempts to St. Thomas' 1-of-4 showing.
Harrell secured game-high scoring honors for USF with her 23 points coming via an 8-of-18 performance from the floor, while Johnson went 8-of-14 for 17 points. Scott also authored double-digits in the scoring column with 11. Johnson (12) and Scott (9) were also big assets defensively with the two players combining half of USF's 42 rebounds.
St. Thomas was led by Nuria Estrade's team-high 16 points, with Diora Ressaissi contributing another 15 markers.
Up Next
The Saints will take the court again Friday when they face-off against Lawrence Tech University (Mich.) at 5:30pm EST in Southfield, Mich..
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