MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) scored 15 points and hit the game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds on the clock to lead the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team to a 66-65 upset win against 14th-ranked Stonehill College on Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
With their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since a 52-45 victory against 20th-ranked Assumption College on Jan. 14, 2012 at Stoutenburgh, the Hawks improve to 7-5, including 3-4 in Northeast-10 play. The Skyhawks see their three-game winning streak snapped as they fall to 7-3, 4-2 NE-10.
Jones shot 6-for-11 from the floor, including 1-for-2 from deep, and 2-for-2 at the line, while reeling in five rebounds and handing out a pair of assists. Freshman Candace Andrews (Boston, Mass.) also scored 15 points (6-15 FG; 1-3 3-FG; 2-3 FT) and added six assists and three rebounds. Senior Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass.) notched her third straight double-double and sixth of the season overall with 10 points (5-15 FG) and 13 boards, which matched her personal best for the fifth time this season. Senior Allie Jones (So. Kingstown, R.I.) posted 12 points (6-12 FG), eight rebounds and three assists, while classmate Meg Morrissey (So. Kingstown, R.I.) was also in double figures with 10 points (3-10 FG; 2-4 3-FG; 2-2 FT) to go along with five rebounds, four steals, two assists and a pair of blocks.
Amy Pelletier led Stonehill with a game-high 18 points, while Tori Faieta pumped in 17.
After leading by 10 points early in the second half, the Hawks found themselves facing their largest deficit of the evening at 65-59 when Faieta converted a layup with 1:50 to play in regulation. Saint Anselm would clamp down, however, and score the game's final seven points to grab the win.
Allie Jones would drop in a layup to cut the deficit to four with 1:34 on the clock before five straight combined trips down the floor would leave both teams empty-handed. That is until Andrews came down and buried a monster 3-pointer from the top of the key that sliced the Stonehill lead to just one at 65-64 with 44 seconds to play.
Following back-to-back empty possessions, Mary Louise Dixon found herself at the line with a chance to expand the lead to three, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Saint Anselm a chance to win it with 9.4 seconds left. After a timeout, Morrissey fed the ball to Bri Jones, who drove the lane and made an acrobatic layup over Faieta to put the Hawks in front, 66-65, with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Stonehill inbounded the length of the floor and Morrissey deflected the ball out of bounds in front of the Skyhawk bench, taking the clock down to 0.9. Dixon then tried to lob it into the paint, but Lehr jumped up to tip the pass away and seal the victory for Saint Anselm.
Saint Anselm just narrowly outshot Stonehill, 40.6 percent (28-69) to 40 percent (24-60), while both teams were evenly matched from beyond the arc at 44.4 percent. Stonehill hit 8 of 18 from deep, while the Hawks went 4-for-9. Saint Anselm also held advantages on the glass (42-38), in the paint (26-24) and in assist-to-turnover ratio (14/12-13/14).
In a first half that featured nine lead changes and seven ties, Stonehill used a 5-0 spurt to seize an early 9-6 lead with 12:00 on the clock in the opening half. The lead was up to four two-and-a-half minutes later when an 8-2 run from the Hawks gave them a 20-18 edge with 7:08 to play.
The lead changed hands five times over the following 2:31 before a pair of free throws from Bri Jones sparked a 9-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from Morrissey that made it 33-25 with 2:20 remaining. The Hawks would head into the locker room with a 35-28 advantage.
Bri Jones then opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks their largest lead of the night at 38-28 with 17:41 to go. Stonehill responded with a 10-0 run – highlighted by four points each from Pelletier and Kelly Martin – to knot the game with 14:55 to play.
There were then seven ties over the next seven minutes until Pelletier answered a pair of Andrews free throws with a trey that put Stonehill on top, 53-52, with 6:56 left. Dixon would then splash a 3 and the Skyhawks opened the gap to four. Morrissey answered back with a big 3 to cut it to one, but Pelletier drilled another trifecta to make it 59-55 with 5:33 left.
An Andrews bucket trimmed the margin to two, but back-to-back baskets from Dixon made it a six-point game and looked like the upset hopes were diminishing before the Hawks' eyes. But after the teams traded baskets Saint Anselm used its 7-0 burst over the final 1:50 to capture the win – its first against Stonehill since Nov. 16, 2011.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Jan. 4 at 1:30 p.m. when they play host to the College of Saint Rose 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 and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
