MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team held on for a 73-71 victory over cross-town rival Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action at the SNHU Fieldhouse in Manchester, N.H.
Box Score
The Hawks improve to 3-0 on the year and move to 1-0 in the NE-10 with the victory. Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 22 when they travel to Saint Michael's College for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
Candace Andrews scored a game-high 18 points, including her 1,000th career point, in only 15 minutes of action to lead Saint Anselm, while adding three rebounds, three assists, four steals and a block. Caitlyn Abela scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half, with Ali Glennon netting 12 of her 14 in the second half to join Andrews in double-figures. Abela added five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Kaila Duarte and Erin Waters registered nine points and six rebounds apiece.
The Hawks fell into a quick 5-0 hole to start the game, but Andrews took over, assisting on a Kaila Duarte layup before hitting one of her own and later setting up Caitlyn Abela for a three that quickly made it a 7-5 lead for the Hawks. Two more layups by Andrews gave the Hawks an 11-5 lead nearly midway through the first quarter.
After Victoria Dean hit a triple to pull the Penmen back to 11-10, Abela answered with a step back triple of her own to put the Hawks back on top 14-10, and Andrews converted two more layups to give the Hawks an 18-10 lead with 2:15 left in the first. SNHU's Dean would hit one more three before the end of the stanza to make it an 18-13 game after one quarter of play.
With the Hawks in front 22-17, Candace Andrews dribbled down the left side and buried a 12-foot jumper to become the 18th member of the 1,000 Point Club in program history.
A Caitlyn Abela fast break layup at the 3:29 mark gave the Hawks a 33-24 advantage, but a Brianna Camara three followed by a Catherine Stinson layup cut the Saint Anselm lead to only 35-32. Andrews rolled in a jumper to put the Hawks back on top 37-32 and Abela knocked down two free throws to help Saint Anselm to a 39-32 lead at the break.
Ali Glennon opened the third quarter scoring five of the first six points for the Hawks as a 1-for-2 trip at the charity stripe from the junior gave Saint Anselm a 46-39 lead with 6:28 to play. On the next possession, Clairee Putnam picked off a pass and went the distance for a layup to put the Hawks on top 48-39 and force a SNHU timeout.
A 9-0 run by the Hawks, capped by a Caitlyn Abela score inside, staked Saint Anselm to their largest lead of the game at 59-41 with 2:03 to play in the third. SNHU, however, would score the final six points of the period to cut the deficit to 59-47 headed into the final quarter.
The Penmen continued the run into the fourth quarter, scoring the opening seven points capped off by a Molly Terry three-ball to make it a 59-55 game with 7:41 remaining. SNHU forced another Saint Anselm turnover and Stinson converted on the other end as it became a one possession game at 59-57.
With the shot clock winding down, Ali Glennon knocked down a three to end the run and put the Hawks back in front 62-57. The two teams continued to trade baskets until Erin Waters scored inside to make it a 68-60 game with just over three minutes to play. SNHU answered with four-straight points, but Waters grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in to give the Hawks a 70-64 lead with just over a minute to play.
Hannah Dean knocked down a triple to cut the deficit in half and the Penmen forced a turnover on the next Saint Anselm possession. The Hawks got a stop, but turned it over in the back court, leading to a layup for Catherine Stinson that made it a 70-69 game with 16 seconds remaining.
Ali Glennon knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to put the Hawks in front 71-69 and SNHU called a timeout to advance the ball to half court. With the clock dipping under 10 seconds, Stinson was fouled and stepped to the line, and calmly hit a pair to tie the game at 71-71.
On the ensuing inbound, Glennon was fouled with seven seconds remaining, and she connected on 1-of-2 freebies. Off Glennon's miss, SNHU corralled the rebound and came racing up court, but Kaila Duarte forced a turnover at midcourt and the ball fell to Erin Waters, who was immediately fouled with only 0.7 seconds left. Waters went 1-for-2 and SNHU could not get a shot off before time expired as Saint Anselm held on for the 73-71 victory.
Saint Anselm ended the game shooting 29-of-48 (50%) from the field, while holding SNHU to 39.1% (25-of-64) shooting. The Penmen won the rebounding battle, 36-34, while the Hawks committed 20 turnovers to 22 for the hosts. Despite posting two less rebounds, the Hawks controlled the paint, outscoring the Penmen 40-28 inside.
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