Easton, Mass. (January 8) -- Saint Anselm put together a strong second-half run to tie the game midway through the period before No. 4 ranked Stonehill held off the visitors for a 68-52 win over the Hawks on Tuesday evening in Northeast-10 women's basketball action at Merkert Gym.

Stonehill jumped out to an 11-0 lead with 14:27 remaining in the first half before Justine Lyons (Reading, Mass.) got the Hawks on the board with a three-pointer from the near side with 14:15 left. The Hawks then put together a 10-5 spurt, including another trifecta from Lyons, to get the visitors within one possession at 16-13 with 9:59 on the clock.

Saint Anselm kept up the pressure and pulled within one at 18-17 on a layup from Katie Dorey (Burlington, Vt.), forcing a Stonehill timeout. The Hawks took their first lead of the game at 19-18 with 6:54 left on a layup by Lyons before Stonehill answered with a very quick 8-0 run to retake the momentum at 26-19. Stonehill pushed the lead to as many as 10 before Saint Anselm closed the half on an 8-3 spurt to make it a 34-29 game at the half. The half was capped off by a layup from freshman Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.), who nearly had a double-double in the first half with seven points and nine rebounds.

Lyons led the Hawks with 11 points, while the Skyhawks used eight three-pointers in the period to take the lead at the midway point. Emily Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine) knocked down four trifectas, while Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.) had three triples.

In the second half, Lyons nailed a three with 13:33 left to make it 42-40 and then stole the ball and took it the length of the court to knot the game at 42-42, forcing a Skyhawk timeout. After Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) briefly gave the hosts the lead back, Howard knocked down a 12-foot baseline jumper to tie things again at 44-44 with 11:56 left. A pair of Stonehill hoops made it a four-point cushion before Hawk sophomore Katie Larkin (Goffstown, N.H.) nailed a three-pointer with one second left on the shot clock to pull the Hawks back to within 48-47 with 9:10 remaining.

Stonehill then held the Hawks scoreless for a stretch of 3:39 to get the lead back to double figures at 57-47 before a layup from Howard stopped the run and it was 57-49 with 5:31 left in the game. Stonehill held the Hawks to just three points from that point on though as the Skyhawks came away with the 16-point victory.

Howard led the Hawks with a 20-point, 17-rebound double-double, along with an 18-point showing by Lyons as she hit four three-pointers. That marks Howard's ninth double-double of her rookie season and her sixth in the last seven games. Rousseau had 20 points to lead Stonehill, while Simonds had 15 and Methven 14 points.

With the loss, Saint Anselm falls to 3-10 overall and 1-7 in the league, while Stonehill improves to 13-1 overall and 8-1 in Northeast-10 play. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Hawks travel to Waltham, Mass., to take on Bentley University for a 1:30 p.m. start.