• Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 1) – The Vulcans held a six-point halftime lead on Saturday evening before suffering an 88-75 loss at Saint Francis, which was led by 40 points from senior Alexa Hayward, at DelGol Arena.

The Red Flash was picked to finish in fifth place in the Northeast Conference (NEC) preseason poll after making its second-straight appearance in the NEC Championship. Led by head coach Joe Halgh, Saint Francis returns three starters from a team that averaged over 82 points per game last year.

Senior forward Irina Kukolj (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) and sophomore guard Miki Glenn (Bridgeport, W.Va./Bridgeport) both scored a team-high 16 points in the loss. Glenn, the 2014 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Freshman of the Year, made 6-of-13 attempts from the floor and added three assists and five steals in the exhibition. Kukolj shot 5-of-16 from the field on Saturday and made five-of-eight attempts from the free-throw line. She also totaled seven rebounds and three steals while playing all 40 minutes.

In her college debut, freshman Seairra Barrett (Center Twp., Pa./Central Valley) finished with 15 points, nine rebounds (four offensive), three blocks and three steals. Junior transfer Paige Wright (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) added eight points, three rebounds and two steals off the bench.

Cal U posted an 8-3 run early in the game to tie the score at 10-10 on a layup by Fratz with 13:41 left in the first half. The teams then each scored five-straight points with Wright making a three-pointer at the 10:37-mark to tie the score at 15-15. The Vulcans later mounted a 17-2 rally over a nearly five-minute span to take a 40-32 lead with 31 seconds left before halftime. Saint Francis made only one-of-seven attempts from the field and committed five turnovers during the run. The Red Flash made a jumper in the closing seconds of the first half, as the Vulcans took a 40-34 lead at the break.

Saint Francis opened the second half on an 18-1 run to take a 52-41 lead with 13:29 remaining in the game. The Vulcans missed all eight of their shot attempts from the floor and committed six turnovers during the span. Cal U answered with a 10-5 run over four-plus minutes to trim the deficit to 57-51 with 9:22 left to play after back-to-back layups by Glenn. Saint Francis countered with an 8-1 rally before Cal U mounted a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 69-61 lead on a pair of free-throws by Kukolj with 5:04 remaining. However, the Vulcans were unable to cut the deficit any further in the final minutes.

Cal U finished the game shooting 37.5 percent (27-of-72) from the floor and just 47.2 percent (17-of-36) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Saint Francis shot at a 39.2 clip (31-of-79) with 10 three-pointers and 61.5 percent (16-of-26) from the charity stripe. The Red Flash out-rebounded the Vulcans by a 58-48 margin, while both teams committed 28 turnovers in the exhibitions.

Hayward, who ranked among the NEC scoring leaders last year, scored 40 points on 13-of-26 shooting and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. Saint Francis featured four players with eight points, including senior Shaqeia Stokes and junior Aisha Brock, who both added a team-high nine rebounds.

The Vulcans open the regular season with a tip-off tournament at the Convocation Center on Nov. 14-15.