Lowell, Mass. (December 5) -- On a snowy Saturday afternoon, the Saint Anselm women's basketball team fell to UMass Lowell by a 53-34 final at Costello Gym. With the loss, Saint Anselm drops to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in Northeast-10 Conference play.

Saint Anselm jumped out to an early 6-2 following a layup by senior Courtney May (Lakeville, Mass.) with 17:12 left in the opening half. From there though, the Riverhawks put up a 10-0 run, capped by a layup from Sha'Nay Bushner (Akron, Ohio), for a 12-6 advantage. A three-pointer from Amanda McGrew (Santa Monica, Calif.) made it a 10-point lead with 7:46 left before Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) scored on a turnaround jumper to put the lead back into single digits. From that point, the game was scoreless for the next 5:13 before the Riverhawks closed with four straight points and a 27-13 advantage. The Hawks shot just 20.7 percent in the opening half and were led by eight points and 11 rebounds by Howard.

In the second half, the River Hawks pushed the lead to as many as 23 three times before coming away with the 19-point victory. Saint Anselm cut the lead down to 12 on layup by Morgan Frame (Waterville, Maine), but that was as close as the Hawks would get.

Howard finished up with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double, the 19th double-double of her career. Jen Valente (Prospect, Conn.) had 14 points to lead three River Hawks in double figures.

With the loss, the Hawks drop to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in the Northeast-10, while the River Hawks improve to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in league play. Saint Anselm is back in action on Tuesday night as the Hawks host Saint Michael's for a 5:30 p.m. start at Stoutenburgh Gym.