EASTON, Mass. – Senior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) scored a game-high 16 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team suffered a 54-43 overtime loss against Stonehill College on Tuesday evening in its season finale at Merkert Gymnasium.
The Hawks wrap up their season at 13-15, including 7-15 in Northeast-10 play, while the Skyhawks improve to 13-13, 9-13 NE-10.
Howard shot 7-for-17 from the floor and 1 of 1 at the line, while pulling down nine rebounds, handing out two assists and recording a block.
The Hawks had a 5-2 lead just two minutes into the contest after Howard sank her first 3-pointer in three career tries. After Stonehill had sliced its deficit to a pair less than two minutes later, consecutive layups by sophomore Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.), followed by a Howard basket, opened the Saint Anselm lead to 13-5 with 14:16 remaining in the opening half.
After a jumper by junior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) made the Hawks' lead an even 10 at 17-7 with 11:25 on the clock, the Skyhawks ran off seven straight points to trim the Saint Anselm lead to 17-14 with 9:22 left.
The Hawks responded with a 9-1 run, which included five points from Howard, and the lead grew to 26-15 with 6:07 to go. Tori Faieta would answer by dropping in a layup, but the Hawks scored the final seven points of the half – with four from sophomore Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) – to take a 33-17 lead into the break.
Neither team scored until Priscilla Dodoo dropped in a layup 4:13 into the second half. After Morrissey answered with a layup of her own, the Skyhawks erupted to go on a 22-3 run that gave them their first lead of the contest at 41-38 with just over a minute to play.
Sophomore Ashley Viselli (Groveland, Mass.) answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing that tied the game at 41 with 42.9 seconds on the clock. Neither team would score on its final possession and the game went to overtime.
After Howard answered Faieta's layup with one of her own, Stonehill scored the game's final 11 points to complete the comeback.
Lehr narrowly missed a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds, while she filled out the rest of her line with two assists and a steal. Morrissey also tallied eight points, four steals, three rebounds and an assist. Viselli chipped in six points, three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
Stonehill outshot Saint Anselm, 40.8 percent (20-49) to 35.3 percent (18-51), including 48.1 percent (13-27) to 14.8 percent (4-27) in the second half and overtime, combined. The Hawks controlled the boards by a 37-27 margin, including 12-6 on the offensive end, and also held a 24-18 advantage in the paint.
Faieta led Stonehill with 12 points, while Mary Louise Dixon and Dodoo added 11 and 10, respectively.
This marked the final career games for seniors Howard, Sarah Craft (Lawrence, Kan.) and Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.).
