Old Westbury, N.Y. (December 30) – Trailing 49-39 with 12:05 remaining, the Saint Anselm women's basketball team rallied past NYIT for a 60-56 victory on Thursday afternoon at Recreation Hall. The game was the final non-conference contest of the year for the Hawks, who swept the Lady Bears this season.
Both teams started out with a fast-paced offense as the Hawks jumped out to an 18-9 lead with 11:29 left in the opening half following a basket from sophomore Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.). The Lady Bears chipped away over the next nine minutes though and with 3:21 remaining, NYIT took its first lead at 30-29 following a free throw from Cierra Baker.
Saint Anselm quickly regained the advantage though and took a 35-34 advantage into the halftime break. Leading the offense for the Hawks in the first period was junior guard Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.), along with six points from Leighton and five points off the bench for freshman Mariah Wynn (Boston, Mass.).
NYIT came out firing in the second half and built to the 10-digit lead following a 15-4 run to begin the period. Kelli Josephsen (W. Caldwell, N.J.) got the Hawks started on a 9-0 run though and with 9:37 left, the lead was down to one at 49-48. The Hawks took the lead for good at 52-51 on a layup from Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) with 6:16 left as Saint Anselm stretched the lead to as many as five points in the final minutes. The Hawks knocked down 8-of-11 free throw attempts over the remainder of the game though to hang on for the road victory.
Smith led the Hawks with 16 points, while Leighton added 14 points in 38 minutes. Howard nearly posted a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, along with six points, seven rebounds and three assists by Josephsen off the bench.
Baker led the Lady Bears with a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double, along with 14 points from Rebecca Lynch.
With the win, the Hawks even their record at 5-5 overall and have now won two straight, while the Lady Bears drop to 3-6 overall with the loss. Saint Anselm returns to league play on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., traveling to North Andover, Mass., to take on Merrimack in Northeast-10 action.
