Manchester, N.H. (February 26) -- Saint Anselm
held a nine-point lead in the first half and closed to within one
again in the final minutes before No. 11 ranked Stonehill held on
for a 63-57 victory over the Hawks on Tuesday night at Stoutenburgh
Gym in the season finale for Saint Anselm.
The first half was all Hawks as the hosts quickly jumped out to
a seven-point lead at 10-3 with 15:09 remaining after a
Cassandra Loftus (Nashua, N.H.) jumper as Loftus
scored six of the team's first 12 points. The lead went to as many
as nine at 21-12 with 9:02 remaining after a baseline layup by
Kirsten Doldoorian (Oxford, Mass.) before a quick
5-0 run pulled Stonehill back to within four at 21-17. That was as
close as the Hawks would let Stonehill get as Saint Anselm took a
33-27 lead into the halftime break. Loftus and Cassaundra
Thorpe (Portsmouth, N.H.) led all scorers with eight
points each in the period, while the Hawks forced Stonehill into 14
first-half turnovers. Megan Methven (Corning,
N.Y.) and Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro,
Mass.) each scored five first-half points for the
Skyhawks, while Simonds also contributed five rebounds.
Stonehill came out firing in the second half with a 9-0 run in
the opening 4:33 of the period, capped by a layup from Simonds, to
take a 36-33 lead. The Hawks tied the game a number of times in
period, including for the final time with 9:08 remaining on a layup
from Courtney May (Lakeville, Mass.). The Skyhawks
pushed the lead to as many as five before the Hawks got back to
within 57-56 with 2:56 left after a Doldoorian layup. That was as
close as the Hawks would get though as Erika Stupinski
(Topsham, Maine) knocked down a pair of free throws with
4.3 seconds left to lock up the win.
Thorpe led three Hawks in double figures with 12 points, while
Jennifer Gureckis (Nashua, N.H.) posted 11 points
and Loftus finished with 10. Simonds led Stonehill with a 25-point,
10-rebound double-double.
With the loss, the Hawks close the season at 6-21 overall and
3-19 in league play. Stonehill has clinched the top seed in the
upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Tournament and closes out the
regular season at 23-4 overall and 19-3 in the Northeast-10.
