MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) scored a season-high 18 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team fell to the University of Massachusetts Lowell, 73-62, Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks drop to 3-5 on the season, including 0-5 in Northeast-10 play, while the River Hawks improve to 5-2, 3-2 NE-10.
Leighton came one point shy of matching her career high as she was 8-for-15 from the floor, including 2-for-6 from long range. She also added four rebounds and two assists. Juniors Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) and Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) were also in double figures with 10 points apiece. Lehr pulled down six rebounds, while Jones handed out four assists and made two steals.
The Hawks led 4-3 just three minutes in when back-to-back 3s by Melissa Frase and Bianca Simmons gave UML a five-point lead. Layups from Leighton and freshman Raquel Johnson (Long Beach, Calif.) cut the Saint Anselm deficit to one at 9-8 with 16:16 to play in the opening half.
The deficit was still one when another Simmons trey widened the gap to four at 16-12 with 13:43 to play. After the teams traded baskets, layups by Leighton and Jones knotted the game at 18 with 10:32 left.
From there, however, a 7-0 run for the River Hawks made it a 25-18 game with 5:49 to play. Leighton halted the run with another layup, but Lauren Fiola banged a 3 and UMass Lowell had its largest lead of the half at 28-20 with 3:54 on the clock.
Back-to-back jumpers from Lehr and junior Mariah Wynn (Boston, Mass.) trimmed the UML lead back to four with just under three minutes to go. Leighton followed a pair of Simmons free throws with a 3-pointer that made it a three-point game with just under a minute-and-a-half left, but a Brianna Calver trey with just 36 seconds remaining closed the scoring and sent the River Hawks to the locker room with a 33-27 lead.
The Hawks opened the second half with buckets from junior Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.) and Jones that cut it to just a pair 1:23 in, but the River Hawks answered with a 4-0 run to nudge the lead back to six. The gap was five at 39-34 when an 8-0 Saint Anselm run gave it a 42-39 lead with 14:59 remaining. Leighton scored the final seven points of the run during a stretch in which she scored nine straight for the Hawks.
After Leighton answered Amra Elezovic's layup with one of her own to keep it a three-point game, Simmons knocked down a trio of free throws to tie the game after she was fouled launching a 3. Lehr swished a jumper to make it 46-44 with 12:44 remaining, but Danielle DePierro gave the River Hawks the lead for good when she knocked down a 3 with 12:28 on the clock.
That sparked an 18-2 run, which featured six points from Elezovic, five from Lindsey Doucette, four from Simmons and three from DiPierro, and gave UMass Lowell a 62-48 advantage with 6:53 left to play.
The lead was still 14 at 70-56 with 3:41 to go when a Johnson layup, Jones jumper and a pair of free throws from sophomore Allie Jones (So.Kingstown, R.I.) sliced the Saint Anselm deficit to 70-62 with 1:29 on the clock. Simmons closed out the game, however, with three free throws on two trips to the line down the stretch.
Allie Jones narrowly missed the elusive double-double again as she finished with eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with three blocks, two assists and a steal.
The Hawks outshot the River Hawks, 45.8 percent (27-59) to 41 percent (25-61), but the River Hawks returned the favor and outshot the Hawks, 36.4 percent (12-33) to 16.7 percent (2-12) from beyond the arc. Saint Anselm held a 41-28 advantage on the glass and outscored UMass Lowell in the paint, 40-22, but turned the ball over 32 times, while forcing 24 UML turnovers.
Simmons led the River Hawks with 24 points.
The Hawks return to action Thursday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. when they hit the road to take on Saint Michael's College. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Jan. 12 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to American International College at Stoutenburgh. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
