New Haven, Conn. (January 19) -- Saint Anselm used a 22-3 run over the final eight minutes to overcome a 15-point second-half deficit as the Hawks rallied past Southern Connecticut for a 51-47 win at Moore Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. The Hawks held the Owls scoreless over the final 4:06 and without a field goal for the final 8:52.

The Hawks jumped out to a 12-3 lead with 12:54 left in the opening period behind seven early points from sophomore Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.). Saint Anselm eventually built the lead to double digits at 22-12 with 4:06 left before the Southern Connecticut offense came to life. The Owls scored nine unanswered to close to within 22-21 with 1:40 left on a layup by Shelley Pierson and eventually the Hawks took a 25-23 lead into the halftime break. Leighton led all scorers with nine points in the period.

Southern tied the game early in the second half before the Hawks built back to a 29-25 lead with 17:30 left after a pair of Leighton layups. The Owl defense clamped down for the next 9:12 though, holding the Hawks scoreless in a 19-0 run that blew the game open at 44-29. Leighton ended the run with a jumper from just inside the three-point line to make it 44-31 with 8:18 remaining in the game.

From that point, it was all Hawks as the visitors closed to within 47-37 with 4:07 left and ended the game on a 14-0 run for the victory. Trailing 47-43 with just 1:28 left, junior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) scored on a runner in the lane to get within two and the Hawks used a free throw by Howard with 34.9 left to close to 47-46. Leighton rebounded Howard's miss on the second free throw and was fouled immediately and knocked down both to give the Hawks the lead for good at 48-47 with 32.3 left. Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.) hit three free throws over the final seconds of the game to wrap up the victory for the Hawks, snapping a two-game losing streak.

Leighton led the Hawks with a season-high 17 points, along with 12 from Smith and 11 from Howard. Howard led the Hawks with seven boards. Pierson led the Owls with 14 points, while no Owls were in double figures for scoring.

With the win, Saint Anselm improves to 7-9 overall and 4-8 in the Northeast-10, while the Owls fall to 6-11 overall and 2-10 in the league.

Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday, January 22 as the Hawks play host to the University of New Haven Chargers at Stoutenburgh Gym. That game is set for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff and will be available live online at www.SaintAnselmHawks.tv, with Ben Altsher and Nick Anastos calling the action.