MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) registered a double-double in her final collegiate game and junior Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y.) scored 16 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team dropped its season finale against 11th-ranked Stonehill College, 57-47, Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium on Senior Night.
The Hawks wrap up their season at 4-22, including 1-21 in Northeast-10 play, while the Skyhawks improve to 23-3, 19-3 NE-10.
Leighton posted 16 points (7-14 FG; 1-2 3-FG; 1-2 FT) and 11 boards to go along with three assists, three steals and two blocks. Jones shot 7-for-17 from the floor and added four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.
Saint Anselm trailed 5-2 early on when a 6-0 spurt gave it an 8-5 edge with 16:07 remaining in the opening half. An Amy Pelletier 3-pointer tied it 14 seconds later. With the game tied at 15, Jones made one of two at the line to give the Hawks what would be their final lead of the night with 8:04 left.
Tori Faieta dropped in a layup with just under seven minutes left and the Skyhawks led, 17-16. It was still a one-point game a minute-and-a-half later when Stonehill ripped off a 14-2 run – with five points from Mary Louise Dixon and four from Asia Ewing – to grab a 33-20 lead with 27 seconds on the clock. Jones added a layup just before the break to cut it to 33-22.
Stonehill opened the second half on a 13-4 run – with five points from Jamie Panton – to stretch its lead to 46-26 at the 13:38 mark. The Skyhawks pushed the lead to a game-high 22 at 50-28 with 11:58 remaining, but a 14-0 stretch for the Hawks – with 10 points coming from Leighton – trimmed their deficit to 50-42 at the 6:30 mark.
The Skyhawks answered with a 5-1 stretch, however, that pushed their lead back to 55-43 with just under four minutes to play. The teams would then trade baskets before Leighton closed the scoring with a layup with 1:35 to go.
Sophomore Allie Jones (So. Kingstown, R.I.) netted nine points, while pulling down four rebounds and handing out a pair of assists.
Stonehill held a narrow 37.5 percent (21-56) to 35.6 percent (21-59) shooting advantage, including 31.8 percent (7-22) to 20 percent (1-5) from beyond the arc. The Skyhawks also controlled the boards (41-34), while Saint Anselm owned a 34-18 margin in the paint and turned the ball over just 13 times while forcing 15 Stonehill turnovers.
Ewing led Stonehill with 14 points.
This marked the final game for Leighton, who was honored in a ceremony prior to the game.
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