NYACK, N.Y. – Senior Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.) scored 21 points as the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team recorded a convincing 91-33 victory against Nyack College on Friday evening.
The Hawks improve to 8-4 on the season, which matches the team's best start since the 2002-03 season. The Warriors, who dropped a 68-50 decision at Saint Anselm on Dec. 2, remain winless at 0-8. The 58-point margin of victory for the Hawks matches their second largest margin of victory of all time.
Smith was 7-for-10 from the floor, including 6-for-8 from behind the arc. The six treys match her career high, which she set earlier this season at Southern New Hampshire University. Sophomore Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) added 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting, while classmate Kierra Moore (Albany, N.Y.) matched her career best with 12 points on a perfect 4 of 4 shooting from long range. The four 3-pointers were also a career high.
Behind the 3-point shooting of Smith and Moore, Saint Anselm set a program record for most treys made in a game as they were 13 of 23 from outside. The previous record was 12, which had been accomplished four times, including most recently against Adelphi on Jan. 8, 2011.
The Hawks built an 8-0 lead in the first 3:17 of the game. After a Meghan Richards jumper broke the ice for Nyack just over five minutes in, back-to-back 3-pointers by Smith and sophomore Mariah Wynn (Boston, Mass.), followed by jumpers from senior Sarah Craft (Lawrence, Kan.) and Smith, made up a 10-0 run that made it 18-2 at the 12:35 mark.
Saint Anselm later led 21-6 when a 14-2 stretch opened the lead up to 35-8 with 5:22 remaining. The Hawks were up 38-11 just under a minute later when Smith ignited a 9-0 run with consecutive 3-pointers. Smith would add a free throw before sophomore Ashley Viselli (Groveland, Mass.) sank a jumper to close the run with Saint Anselm up 47-11 with 2:22 to go. Sophomore Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.) would knock down a jumper with two seconds left to give the Hawks their largest lead of the half at 51-14.
Saint Anselm did not let up out of the break as a pair of Jones jumpers sandwiched a Smith 3 to make it 58-14 just 2:23 in. The lead was 62-20 when an 11-0 spurt that was keyed by a Moore trey and capped by a 3-pointer from junior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) made it 73-20.
A jumper by senior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) gave the Hawks their largest lead of the evening to that point at 85-26, before five straight Warrior points shaved the deficit to 54. Saint Anselm answered with six straight of their own, including a pair of free throws from Jones that gave the Hawks their largest lead of the game at 91-31 with 43 seconds to go. A Hayden Kimbrough jumper with 13 seconds left broke the stretch and closed the scoring.
Morrissey recorded nine points, four assists and five steals, while Howard posted seven points and eight boards. Viselli produced a solid line of five points, five rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes. Leighton added five points and eight boards, while sophomore Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) chipped in with six points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Hawks outshot the Warriors, 55.4 percent (31-56) to 22.2 percent (10-45), including 56.5 percent (13-23) to 10 percent (1-10) from beyond the arc. Saint Anselm outscored Nyack, 26-12, in the paint and held a 38-31 advantage on the glass. The Hawks also only turned the ball over 12 times, while forcing 27 Nyack turnovers.
The Hawks return to action Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. when they ring in the New Year by playing host to the College of Saint Rose.
