NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Senior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) and sophomore Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) each scored 12 points to lead the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team to a 63-52 victory against Merrimack College on Wednesday evening at Bert Hammel Court.
The Hawks, who have won three of their last five, snap a two-game skid and improve to 13-11 on the season, including 7-11 in Northeast-10 play. Merrimack, which sees the season series swept by the Hawks, drops to 4-18, 3-15.
Howard was 6-for-12 from the floor to go along with six boards, two steals and an assist, while Jones was 6-for-11 and added four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Junior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) and sophomore Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) were also in double figures for the Hawks with 10 points apiece. Leighton was 3-for-5 from behind the arc and 1 of 2 at the line, while pulling down five boards and handing out five helpers. Lehr was 5-for-12 from the field, while adding five boards and a career-high four assists.
Sophomore Kierra Moore (Albany, N.Y.) got the Hawks off on the right foot as she drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 3-0 a little over a minute into the contest. The Hawks still led by three, 11-8, when four straight points from Merrimack gave the Warriors a one-point lead with 14:33 to play.
Saint Anselm still trailed by one, 16-15, when back-to-back layups by Howard, followed by a layup from sophomore Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.), gave the Hawks a 21-16 advantage with 7:35 left.
The Warriors roared back with seven straight points that were part of a 14-3 run to close the half. Katie Ganser and Gennifer Roy had five and four points, respectively, during the stretch, which ended with Merrimack taking a 30-24 lead into the locker room.
A Leighton trey and a Howard layup sliced the Saint Anselm deficit to one just 1:11 into the second half, but a 5-0 spurt from the Warriors pushed their lead back to six at 35-29 with 18:16 remaining.
Three straight baskets from Jones fueled an 8-0 run that was capped by a Morrissey layup, which gave the Hawks a 37-35 lead with 13:29 to play. A Jaclyn Lyons 3-pointer put Merrimack back on top, but after the teams traded baskets, Lehr sparked an 8-0 run for the Hawks with a jumper.
Leighton followed with a pair of 3-pointers and the Hawks led 47-40 midway through the half. Another 5-0 run from Merrimack cut it to a pair, but two Howard baskets bookended a three-point play from Morrissey and Saint Anselm extended its lead to 54-45 with 6:07 on the clock.
The Hawks still led by nine when a pair of free throws by sophomore Ashley Viselli (Groveland, Mass.) and one of two at the line from Morrissey gave Saint Anselm its largest lead of the contest at 63-51 with 29 seconds to go. Lyons would close the scoring with a free throw with 18 seconds left.
Morrissey tallied nine points, three rebounds and a pair of steals, while Viselli was one point shy of her career best with seven points.
Saint Anselm outshot Merrimack, 51 percent (25-49) to 46.7 percent (21-45), including 55.6 percent (5-9) to 21.1 percent (4-19) from behind the arc. The Hawks held a 55.6 percent (15-27) to 33.3 percent (8-24) advantage in the second half. The Hawks also owned a 24-18 edge in the paint, as well as a 29-25 advantage on the glass.
Kelly Schatzlein led Merrimack with 19 points.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to Franklin Pierce University on Senior Day at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
