WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) scored 14 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team dropped Saturday afternoon's Northeast-10 contest to ninth-ranked Bentley University, 63-45, at the Dana Center.
The Hawks fall to 12-11 on the season, including 6-11 in Northeast-10 play, while the Falcons improve to 19-3, 15-2.
Howard was 7-for-8 from the floor and pulled down four rebounds. Sophomore Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) extended her career-best double-digit scoring streak to four games with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field and a perfect 2 of 2 shooting at the line. Lehr also pulled in three rebounds, handed out an assist and recorded a steal.
Saint Anselm trailed 11-8 early on when sophomore Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) knocked down a jumper that sparked a 14-2 run, which gave the Hawks a 22-13 advantage with 5:13 remaining in the opening half. Howard scored six points during the span, while Jones kicked in four.
Courtney Finn snapped the run with a three-point play, before back-to-back Shatasia Kearse buckets quickly made it a 22-20 game. The Hawks answered back with layups from freshman Allie Jones (Wakefield, R.I.) and Howard that made it 26-20 with 2:03 left.
Bentley responded, however, with a 3-pointer from Caleigh Crowell and a pair of free throws from Lauren Battista that sliced the deficit to one with 31 seconds on the clock. Sophomore Ashley Viselli (Groveland, Mass.) gave the Hawks some breathing room as she sank a jumper with three seconds left that made it 28-25 at the break. It marked just the third time in conference play this season – and the fourth time overall – that Bentley trailed at halftime, including the second time at home.
After Howard stretched the lead to five with a layup 37 seconds into the second half, Bentley wasted no time plotting its comeback as the Falcons used a 7-1 run, including a Battista jumper that capped it, to take a 32-31 lead with 16:40 remaining.
Bentley would never relinquish the lead despite the Hawks twice cutting it to a single point after the Falcons had gone up three. Leading 36-35, Bentley would score seven straight as part of a 17-2 run that opened its lead to 53-37 with 5:37 to play.
A Lehr basket with just over three minutes left whittled the deficit to 14, but a three-point play by Kearse, followed by a Battista layup, gave the Falcons their largest lead of the afternoon at 63-44 with 2:02 to play. Sophomore Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.) closed the scoring with a layup with 1:36 to go.
Briana Jones tallied six points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Viselli netted five points and handed out a pair of assists, while Morrissey posted five points, four assists and two steals.
Bentley narrowly outshot Saint Anselm, 46.5 percent (20-43) to 46.2 percent (18-39), including 52.2 percent (12-23) to 27.8 percent (5-18) in the second half. The Hawks shot 61.9 percent (13-21) in the first half – their best shooting stanza of the season. The Falcons held a 27-19 advantage on the glass and a 26-24 edge in the paint.
Battista led all scorers with 16 points.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. when they hit the road to take on Merrimack College. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to Franklin Pierce University on Senior Day at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
