January 24, 2015

Gainesville, FL – The Santa Fe Saints went toe to toe with the high powered Florida State College at Jacksonville Blue Wave Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, playing a back and forth game until midway through the second half when FSC-J was able to pull away for the 99-83 victory.

SF led by as many as eight in the first half thanks to hot outside shooting from Brianca Roberts and Kayla Lovett, but the Blue Wave use a 20-6 run over a six minute span to take a 37-31 lead with two minutes to go.  The Saints answered with seven straight points to retake the lead, but Naje Gibson, who would finish with 37 points, capped the half with a layup to give FSC-J a 39-38 halftime advantage.

Gibson picked right up where she left off, scoring the first six points of the second half to put the Blue Wave up 45-38 just over a minute in.  The Saints needed only a minute to cut the lead back to one thanks five points from Kayla Lovett and a put back layup by Karrah Johnson.

From there, however, it was all Blue Wave as they built the lead to as many as 20 and closed out the 16 win to improve to 17-5 overall and 4-1 in the Mid-Florida Conference.  The loss drops SF to 10-10 overall and 1-4 in the MFC.

Kayla Lovett had the best game of her Santa Fe career, finishing with 25 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.  Sonya Franklin had 15 points, and Brianca Roberts scored 14.

The Saints will hit the road on Wednesday, January 28 to battle the College of Central Florida in Ocala at 6:00 PM.

For a full schedule, please visit www.santafesaints.com.  To watch live Saints games, visit www.ihigh.com/santafesaints

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