LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.) scored a game-high 17 points and classmate Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) registered her fifth double-double of the season, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team absorbed a tough loss as the University of Massachusetts Lowell rallied for a 60-57 victory Wednesday evening at Costello Gymnasium.
The Hawks drop to 7-4 on the season, including 2-4 in Northeast-10 play, while the River Hawks improve to 3-5, 2-4.
Smith was 6-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-6 from behind the arc, and 2-for-3 at the line. Smith successfully extended her streak of consecutive free throws made to 21 before missing her third and final shot at the line. Howard posted her 40th career double-double with 11 points and 18 rebounds. She added two assists and a block in 25 minutes.
Saint Anselm grabbed a 56-46 lead with 6:48 to play in regulation when Howard made a layup. That would be the Hawks' final field goal of the night, however, as the River Hawks went on a 14-0 run – with seven points from Danielle DePierro and five from Brianna Wilson – to take a 60-56 lead with 1:11 remaining.
Wilson's jumper with 2:53 on the clock gave UML the lead for good at 57-56. Howard would hit a free throw with 42 seconds left to snap the run and get the Hawks within three. After forcing a pair of misses on the other end of the floor, the Hawks got the ball back with 15 seconds left, but their final shot at the buzzer missed its mark and the River Hawks pulled out the victory.
Saint Anselm led, 8-2, early before a 6-0 run by the River Hawks tied the game. A 3-pointer by junior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) and a layup by Howard pushed the lead back to five at 13-8, but a 6-2 spurt brought UMass Lowell within one at 15-14 midway through the opening half.
Smith answered by singlehandedly crafting an 11-0 run over the next 1:31 that opened up a 26-14 lead for the Hawks with 8:18 to play. Smith sparked the stretch with an old fashioned three-point play before hitting a layup and back-to-back 3-pointers to close it.
Sha'Nay Busher then did her best Smith impression, scoring six points as part of an 11-0 UML run that sliced it to a single point at 26-25 with 6:15 to go. The back-and-forth continued as Saint Anselm scored the final eight points of the half, including six via the charity stripe, to carry a 34-25 lead into the locker room.
The Hawks made it 12 straight points as jumpers by Smith and sophomore Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) made it 38-25 just 1:07 into the second half. After a Bushner layup, the Hawks scored five straight to close a stretch of 4:54 in which they outscored the River Hawks, 17-1, to make it 43-27 at the 17:57 mark.
The Hawks led by 15 later in the half when a 9-1 UMass Lowell run shaved its deficit to 48-41 with 10:53 to play. A Leighton trey halted the run and opened the lead back up to 10 before a jumper by sophomore Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) a minute and a half later nudged it to 11. A DePierro 3-pointer cut it to eight before Howard's layup pushed it back to 10 and set up the River Hawks' dramatics.
Leighton finished with 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Sophomore Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.) tallied six points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.
UMass Lowell outshot Saint Asnelm, 33.8 percent (22-65) to 32.1 percent (17-53), including 38.7 percent (12-31) to 28 percent (7-25) in the second half. The Hawks outrebounded the River Hawks, 49-39, but were outscored in the paint, 34-16, and turned the ball over 17 times, while forcing just seven UML turnovers.
Bushner led the River Hawks with 15 points.
The Hawks return to action Friday, Dec. 30 at 5 p.m. when they hit the road to take on Nyack College, who they defeated, 68-50, at home Dec. 2. The next home game for the Hawks will be Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. when they play host to the College of Saint Rose at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
