Manchester, NH (February 8) – Although the Hawks controlled the first half of play and went to the locker room at half-time up by 6 (36-30), Bentley rallied in the second half to win the game.
Megan Howard (St. Paul, MN) scored another double-double (19 points 13 rebounds) on the night and Epiphany Smith (Springfield, AR) chipped in 16 and Brianna Jones (White Plains, NY) contributed 13.
The first placed Falcons had to overcome a deficit of 8 in the second half to come from behind for the win. Bentley senior guard, Kim Brennan (Locust Valley, NY) and freshman Lauren Battista (North Easton, MA) recorded season highs of 24 and 23 points respectively to bring the Falcons back in the game. After a layup by Shatasia Kearse (Framingham, MA) at 9:49, Bentley took the lead for the first time in the game. The two teams exchanged baskets until 5:57 and then Bentley started a 15-5 run to open the lead to 10 points at 3:36 to 64-54. Saint Anselm had a 7 point run and finished by a three point play from Megan Howard with 53 seconds remaining. Bentley missed a three- point shot, followed by a missed three by Curran Leighton (Dover, NH) rebounded by Bentley with 13 seconds to go. Meg Morrissey was forced to foul. Bentley made the first and missed the second free throw, rebounded by Smith. Smith missed the layup, rebound went to Bentley. Two more foul shots were awarded to Bentley as the game came to a disappointing conclusion.
The loss puts Saint Anselm 9-13 overall, 6-12 in the Northeast-10. The Hawks are on the road at Franklin Pierce on Saturday, February 12 and return home to Stoutenburgh Arena on the 16th to take on Stonehill. Tip-off is at 5:30.
