St. Francis (N.Y.) Edges Women's Hoops, 57-54

Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. - Senior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y.) scored a season-high 21 points but Autumn Lau hit the go-ahead three pointer with 34 seconds left to give the St. Francis (N.Y.) Terriers a 57-54 victory over the Stony Brook University women's basketball team on Friday afternoon.
Jeter also pulled down eight rebounds for the Seawolves, who forced the Terriers into 24 turnovers. Junior Destiny Jacobs (Glen Burnie, Md.) added nine points and nine rebounds for SBU. Jasmin Robinson led the Terriers with 21 points.
Trailing by nine with 12 minutes remaining, St. Francis (N.Y.) went on a 12-1 run to take a 46-44 lead with just less than seven minutes remaining. Jacobs tied the game with a put-back hoop but an Ashley Wilcots bucket gave the Terriers the lead back.
But sophomore Sam Landers (Springfield, Va.) followed with a jumper and Jacobs then hit two free throws to put SBU on top, 50-48, with 4:20 to go in the game. Sophomore Talisha Bridges (Kalamazoo, Mich.) hit one of two free throws before Jeter hit two freebies to push the Stony Brook lead to five.
A fast-break hoop from Lau brought the Terriers within three with just over two minutes left. Jeter hit one of two free throws to make it 54-50 but a fast-break hoop from Robinson with 1:15 left cut the SBU lead to two. Lau followed with a three to give St. Francis (N.Y.) a 55-54 lead.
SBU called timeout with 29 seconds left but Jacobs missed on a lay-up and the Seawolves were forced to foul Lau. But Lau missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Seawolves another chance. Jeter missed on a driving lay-up with four seconds to go and Robinson went to the line with 2.9 seconds left.
Robinson hit both free throws and the Terriers then deflected the inbounds pass of Jacobs at midcourt. Jeter grabbed the ball but was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.

Stony Brook scored the first four points of the game but the Terriers answered with a 12-0 run over the six minutes. Senior Jodie Plikus (Waterford, Conn.), back in the lineup after missing the last seven games due to injury, ended the Seawolves drought with a long three from the top of the key to make it 12-7.
Jasmine Robinson hit two free throws to push the St. Francis (N.Y.) lead to 14-7 before sophomore Taylor Burner (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) scored consecutive buckets to make it 14-11 with 7:46 left. Bridges tied the game at 17 a minute later with two free throws.
The Seawolves regained the lead with just less than five minutes to go on a Jeter jumper and sophomore Gerda Gatling (Woodbridge, Va.) then hit one of two free throws to make it 24-21. A driving lay-up from Jeter made it 28-25 but Robinson scored the next five points to put the Terriers up two.
But Plikus responded with another three with just under a minute remaining and Burner scored on a put-back in the final seconds to send the Seawolves into the break with a 33-30 lead. Jeter led SBU with 10 points while Burner and Bridges scored eight apiece.
The Stony Brook defense took over to start the second half, holding the Terriers to just two field goals over the first nine and half minutes of the period. Jeter scored eight points over that stretch as the Seawolves took a 43-34 lead. St. Francis (N.Y.) did not go away though, scoring the next seven points to close within two.
Jacobs hit one of two free throws to end the Terriers run but Lau answered with a driving lay-up to cut the Stony Brook lead to one with seven and a half minutes remaining. Robinson followed with a three-point play to give St. Francis (N.Y.) the 46-44 advantage.
The Seawolves open conference play on Monday, hosting UMBC at Pritchard Gymnasium. Game time is set for 7 p.m.