MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) scored 14 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team fell to Southern Connecticut State University, 61-46, Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks drop to 10-8 on the season, including 4-8 in Northeast-10 play, while the Owls improve to 13-3, 10-2 NE-10.
Leighton pulled down six rebounds, blocked two shots and made a pair of steals. Senior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) joined Leighton in double figures with 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two blocks.
Southern Connecticut scored the first 15 points of the game before Howard netted the Hawks' first basket on a layup with 11:20 remaining in the opening half. After a Keshia Primo basket on the ensuing possession, layups by Leighton and Howard trimmed the deficit to 11 at 17-6 with 8:42 left.
Still trailing by 11 later in the period, the Hawks closed the half on a 6-2 run, which was started by a Leighton three-point play, and went into the locker room trailing 25-18.
A Howard layup under a minute into the second half sliced the deficit to five, but the Owls answered with a 19-2 run, which was highlighted by eight points from Camille Fantini, to grab a commanding 44-22 lead with 11:29 remaining.
Saint Anselm trailed 50-29 later in the half when sophomore Ashley Viselli (Groveland, Mass.) used a three-point play to ignite a 10-0 run that trimmed the Southern Connecticut lead to 50-39 with 6:10 to go. Viselli had five points during the stretch.
Following a Mariah Hankton jumper, sophomore Vanessa D'Ambrosi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) knocked down a 3-pointer that put the Hawks within 10 at 52-42 with 3:47 to play. Southern Connecticut would score five straight to push it to 15 before the Hawks scored four in a row to make it 57-46. Hankton would hit four free throws in the final 1:24 to seal the win.
Viselli tallied five points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while D'Ambrosi netted eight points. Sophomore Kierra Moore (Albany, N.Y.) recorded five points, three boards and two steals. Classmate Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and handed out three assists.
Southern Connecticut outshot Saint Anselm, 37.9 percent (22-58) to 32 percent (16-50). The Hawks held a narrow 38-37 edge in rebounding, as well as a 24-22 advantage in the paint.
Hankton led all scorers with 15 points.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. when they hit the road to take on Le Moyne College. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to Adelphi University at Stoutenburgh.
