ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Malea Brown set the program-record with a whopping 44 points at St. Petersburg College, and Santa Fe College women's basketball was able to pick up a Central Conference victory on the road against the Titans.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Saints led 23-14 at the end of the opening quarter, and Brown came out firing right from the get-go. She poured in 14 first quarter points on 5-of-7 shooting and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.

St. Petersburg outscored SF 18-12 in the second quarter, closing the gap in the final minutes of the half to trail by just three, 35-32.

SF had forced St. Petersburg into 15 first-half turnovers, and Brown netted 22 points in the opening 20 minutes of action.

She didn't slow down one bit in the third, scoring 13 of the Saints' 15 points in the period and adding three more triples.

SF led 50-45 headed into the fourth, and was well on its way to its first win against SPC this season.

Whenever SF needed a response to a Titans' push, the Saints came up with one. Selah Reddick had a tough turnaround jumper late in the shot clock to bring the score to 62-57 with 3:24 on the game clock. After two SPC free-throws, Brown calmly sunk a step-back three-pointer, her eighth of the game, to push the lead back up to six.

Although the Saints never trailed in the final quarter, the Titans surged all the way to within two points on two separate occasions in the final minute.

Brown had a relentless drive to the basket in transition with about 50 ticks left, and later, the Titans made two free-throws to bring the score to 67-65 with 23 seconds left.

The Titans were forced to play the foul game, and Joey Delancy hit one free-throw to bring the score to 68-65.

St. Petersburg had a couple of desperate attempts to tie the game from behind the three-point line, but the SF defense stayed close and contested without fouling down the stretch, with none other than Brown controlling the final defensive rebound in the win.

KEY STATISTICS

Brown's 44 points surpassed the previous school-record of 42 points from Martha Huntenberg from November of 1980.

Her previous career-high was 36 points in the second-to-last game in the 2021-2022 season, also against St. Petersburg.

Brown went 18-of-28 from the field, tying the school record for field goals made in a game. She finished a scorching 8-of-12 from deep, one off the school record of nine three-pointers.

In addition to her scoring spree, Brown had eight rebounds and five steals.

The Saints held St. Petersburg to a poor shooting night from three-point territory, as the Titans didn't convert on any of their attempts.

Both teams shot well from the free-throw line. SF was 9-of-12, while SPC went 27-of-31.

UP NEXT

The Saints (12-15, 4-7 Central) have just one game left on the schedule, a home game against Daytona State on Saturday, Feb. 25. The game tips off at 2:00 p.m., and the Saints will need a win to bolster their case for an at-large bid to the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament.