MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Candace Andrews (Boston, Mass.) poured in a career- and game-high 34 points, but the Saint Anselm College women's basketball team suffered a 91-82 overtime loss against Bentley University on Saturday afternoon at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks fall to 8-14 on the season, including 5-11 in Northeast-10 play, while the Falcons improve to 9-13, 4-12 NE-10.
Andrews, whose 34 points are the most for a Hawk since Brianna Blanchard had 34 against Franklin Pierce at Stoutenburgh on Jan. 3, 2003, shot 13-for-27 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the line to go along with six rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. Classmate Caitlyn Abela (No. Easton, Mass.) recorded her second career double-double with 19 points (6-17 FG, 5-11 3-FG, 2-2 FT) and 10 boards, while fellow sophomore Kaila Duarte (Dorchester, Mass.) notched her seventh double-double with 15 points (7-12 FG, 1-3 FT) and 10 rebounds.
Lauren Green paced Bentley with 22 points.
Trailing by 10 with under five minutes to play in regulation, Abela drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the Hawks' deficit to 70-66 with 3:55 left. After a Carlene Kluge layup, Abela knocked down another trey and Andrews followed with a pair at the line to pull Saint Anselm within one at 72-71 with 2:40 to go.
Bentley scored four of the next five points to make it a two-possession game at 76-72 with 1:54 on the clock, but Andrews sank a pair of free throws to cut the deficit in half with 1:09 to play and then knotted the game with another pair of freebies with 35 ticks on the clock. Abela came up with a big block to force a shot clock violation at the other end and the Hawks had one last chance with 2.2 seconds left, but Andrews' heave from just over half court was no good.
The teams traded pairs of free throws to open the overtime scoring, but then Green scored five straight to spark a 7-0 run that gave Bentley an 85-78 lead with 43 seconds to go. Andrews would get the Hawks as close as five with 24 seconds on the clock, but Bentley went 4-for-4 from the line the rest of the way to seal the win.
Sophomore Ali Glennon (Bedford, N.H.) chipped in six points (2-8 FG, 1-3 3-FG, 1-2 FT), five rebounds and two assists, while junior Raquel Johnson (Inglewood, Calif.) added four points (1-6 FG, 2-4 FT) and seven boards.
Kluge netted 16 for Bentley, while Brittany Gregory had 15 and Jen Gemma posted 14 points and 13 boards.
Bentley narrowly outshot Saint Anselm, 42 percent (29-69) to 40.8 percent (31-76), while the Hawks were slightly better from beyond the arc, 33.3 percent (6-18) to 32 percent (8-25). Both the glass (44-44) and paint (28-28) were even, while Bentley turned it over one more time (16) than Saint Anselm (15).
With the game tied at four just over two minutes in, Saint Anselm reeled off 17 straight points – with eight coming from Andrews and six from Duarte – to break open a 21-4 advantage with 13:16 remaining in the opening half.
Bentley responded in a big way, ripping off a 20-5 run – with six points from Green and four each from Gregory, Kluge and Gemma – to slash its deficit to just one at 32-31 with 3:13 left. An old fashioned three-point play from Duarte increased the Saint Anselm lead to four, but Jane White would hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game again and Bentley would eventually head into the locker room trailing, 39-38.
The Falcons would pick up where they left off in the second half as Kluge scored six straight to jumpstart a 9-2 stretch that gave Bentley a 47-41 lead just under three minutes in. Five straight points from the Hawks would cut their deficit to one, but four points from White and three each from Green and Gregory made up a 10-4 spurt that widened the gap to eight at 64-56 with 7:48 remaining.
Gregory's basket with 5:29 left pushed the lead to an even 10 at 70-60 and set up the dramatics for Abela and Andrews down the stretch.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m. when they play host to Saint Michael's College 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.
