LORETTO, Pa. – All of the momentum in Monday night’s Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinal swung toward St. Francis after a big scoring stretch to end the third quarter.
Despite Le Moyne being down, the Dolphins did not go down without a fight.
The fifth-seeded Dolphins erased a seven-point deficit by outscoring the fourth-seeded Red Flash by 17 points in the final frame to defeat St. Francis 62-51 inside DeGol Arena.
“When it comes to playoff time and you go to battle, we always talk about getting that big punch,” St. Francis coach Keila Whittington said. “Le Moyne played aggressive, and we withstood it.
“After the third quarter, we were still up six, but in the fourth, it’s do-or-die time. They went at us hard, and we did not respond.”
Le Moyne’s victory avenged two regular-season losses to St. Francis.
The Red Flash defeated the Dolphins 73-41 in Loretto Jan. 11, which was the 15th consecutive loss for Le Moyne to start the season.
St. Francis then prevailed in overtime, 66-60, Feb. 6.
“When we were here in early January, I thought it was rock bottom for our team,” Le Moyne coach Nick DiPillo said. “We really didn’t play a good game of basketball. I told my staff that, ‘I really hope that we get the opportunity to come back here and give it another shot.’
“I believe strongly in the character of this team. I couldn’t be more excited for these guys. I think we showed a lot of heart. Going into the fourth, we could’ve easily folded up, but that’s not who we are.”
Monday was the Dolphins’ first victory on the road this season. Le Moyne was previously 0-16 away from Ted Grant Court (0-14 as visitors, 0-2 at neutral site) coming into the game.
The Dolphins (7-23) also began the year 0-16 before recording their first win Jan. 18 over Chicago State in overtime.
“We have a lot of leaders on the team,” said Le Moyne forward Haedyn Roberts, who scored her 1,000th career collegiate point in the win.
“We know what we need to do every time we step on the court, it’s just being able to go out and perform. Being able to execute today was the biggest thing. We understand the enormity of conference play and how it’s win or go home, but we’re not ready to go home yet.”
With the score tied at 36-all late in the third quarter, St. Francis’ Airah Lavy drained three straight 3-pointers to give the Red Flash the largest lead of the game for either team at 45-38.
A free throw by Emily Florvil cut the Dolphins’ deficit to six entering the fourth.
Le Moyne then began the final frame on a 12-2 run to lead 51-47 with 6:15 to play. Julianna Gibson converted a contested layup for the Red Flash to stop the string, but the Dolphins closed the game by scoring 11 of the final 13 points.
“We went into a big hole of not being able to convert on the offensive end,” Whittington said. “They were then able to hit the big shots when they needed to, and were then able to pull away.”
The Dolphins will travel to second-seeded Stonehill for Thursday’s semifinal. St. Francis closed an 11-19 season.
The Red Flash considered the 2024-25 campaign a success after starting the season winning just two of their first 13 games. St. Francis then went 9-7 in conference play to secure a home game in the postseason.
“When (starting point guard) Kam (Dorsey) got injured in the first game, we really didn’t know what to expect after that,” Red Flash senior Harris Robinson said. “We had a bunch of players step up and fill roles to help make us successful. It was really nice to see how everyone grew. We came out and believed in ourselves every day.”
Robinson is one of two seniors the Red Flash will be losing to graduation, along with Fanta Daffe.
Dolphins freshman Eli Clark scored a game-high 14 points. Roberts posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Lavy topped St. Francis with 12 points on four 3-pointers off the bench. Natalie Johnson was the lone other Red Flash player in double figures with 10 points, while adding five rebounds.
“This is definitely a learning experience for everybody,” said Whittington, whose roster consists of 13 underclassmen. “In this day and age of the NCAA with the portal, you really don’t know what kids are thinking. We’ll have team meetings and talk to the players about what it can be like if everybody stays and we push forward.
“We do have two players coming off injury as well that we’ll get back. It can still be another special year next year, but we’ll have those conversations with the team and see who wants to continue the process of trying to bring a championship back to St. Francis.”
