Box Score
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team dropped a 67-55 decision to Saint Rose College on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, N.H.
The Hawks fall to 7-6 overall and 4-5 in the NE-10, while the Golden Knights improve to 10-4 and 5-3 in conference games.
Raquel Johnson (Inglewood, Calif.) and Caitlyn Abela (North Easton, Mass.) scored 14 points apiece to lead Saint Anselm, with Abela adding six rebounds. Samnell Vonleh (Swampscott, Mass.) chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while Candace Andrews (Boston, Mass.) stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block.
Saint Rose was paced by 17 points from Taylor Nazon, who connected on 4-of-4 three-pointers in the game. Keyontae Williams added 16 points and Staci Barrett just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Raquel Johnson capped off an 8-2 run by the Hawks to start the game, and a pair of free throws from the senior at the 6:19 mark extended the Saint Anselm lead to 10-4. The Golden Knights answered with a 7-0 run to grab an 11-10 advantage, and Caitlyn Abela canned a three to end the run and put Saint Anselm back in front 13-11. The two teams traded baskets the rest of the period, but Saint Rose took a 19-17 lead into the second quarter.
An Ali Glennon (Bedford, N.H.) triple tied the game at 20-all and back-to-back layups from Johnson and Abela gave Saint Anselm a 24-22 advantage with 7:54 to play in the second. Nicole Bini connected on a three to put the Golden Knights back on top at 25-24, and Keyontae Williams swiped a pass and scored on the fast break put Saint Rose in front 27-24 and forced a Hawk timeout.
Trailing 29-26, Clairee Putnam (Windham, N.H.) buried a three to tie the game at 29-29 with 2:32 to play in the period. Erin Waters (Pawling, N.Y.) banked home a jumper to give the Hawks a 31-29 lead, but Karissa Birthwright converted an offensive rebound and put back to make it a 31-31 game headed into halftime.
Out of the break, Saint Rose came out firing, rattling off a 15-4 run to give the Golden Knights a 46-35 with 4:03 to play in the third. Abela knocked down a three to stop the run, but Saint Rose continued to pull away, scoring seven-straight points to take a 53-38 lead. The Hawks scored five of the final seven points of the stanza, but the Golden Knights took a 55-43 advantage into the final quarter.
Candace Andrews converted a layup 4:24 into the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to only 57-47 and forced a Saint Rose timeout. The Golden Knights answered with an 8-0 run to go back up 65-47, but the Hawks fought all the way to the end, closing the contest with an 8-2 run to give the game its final score of 67-55.
The Hawks shot 19-of-60 (31.7%) for the game compared to 42.2% (27-of-64) shooting for the Golden Knights. Saint Rose won the rebounding battle 46-34, while committing one more turnover (20) than Saint Anselm (19).
Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Le Moyne for an NE-10 Conference game scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
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