Smithfield, R.I. (January 30) -- On Wednesday night at the Chace Athletic Center, the Saint Anselm women's basketball team dropped a 77-56 final to Bryant University in Northeast-10 Conference play.

Bryant came out firing on all cylinders from the opening tip and with 16:18 left had a quick 11-6 lead over the Hawks. The Bulldogs stretched that lead to 14 points with an 11-2 run before Saint Anselm freshman Katie Larkin (Goffstown, N.H.) drilled a three to make the score 22-11 with 8:55 remaining. The lead built to as many as 20 points at 34-14 before the Hawks ended the period with a free throw from Cassaundra Thorpe (Portsmouth, N.H.) and a three-pointer from Erin Higgins (Mansfield, Mass.) to cut it to 34-18 at the break. Higgins led the Hawks with five points, while Bryant was led by 10 points from sophomore Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.).

In the opening minutes of the second half, the Hawks pulled within 14 points before the Bulldogs answered with a 15-0 run over a span of 6:38 to blow the lead up to 29 points at 53-24 with 11:47 left. The Hawks answered with an 8-0 run of its own, powered by two three-pointers from sophomore Kirsten Doldoorian (Oxford, Mass.), to pull back within 53-32 with 10:17 remaining and force Bryant to call a timeout. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to as many as 34 points at 73-39 before another Saint Anselm run, this time a 15-0 burst, closed the gap to 73-54 with 1:25 left in the game. The run was keyed by two three-pointers each from Justine Lyons (Reading, Mass.) and Jennifer Gureckis (Nashua, N.H.).

The Hawks were led by 13 points from Lyons, the lone Hawks in double figures. O'Keefe led three Bulldogs in double figures with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds.

With the loss, the Hawks drop to 6-15 overall and 3-13 in Northeast-10 play, while Bryant improves to 14-6 overall and 9-6 in the league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday, February 2nd as the team travels to Pace for a 3:30 p.m. start in Pleasantville, N.Y.