MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team battled its way to a 65-60 victory over visiting Le Moyne College in a Northeast-10 Conference game on Tuesday night at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, N.H.
Box Score
The Hawks improve to 9-6 overall and 5-5 in the NE10 with the win, while the Dolphins drop to 9-6 and 5-4 in league games. Saint Anselm is back in action Saturday afternoon when they travel to Southern Connecticut State University for a 1:30 p.m. matchup with the Owls.
Candace Andrews scored a game-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals to lead the Hawks. Ali Glennon added 13 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, while Caitlyn Abela chipped in seven points of her own. Clairee Putnam, Kaila Duarte and Emma Daly registered six points apiece, with Duarte grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
Le Moyne was paced by 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench from Nicole Riddick. Courtney Webster added 12 points, with McKayla Roberts just missing a double-double with nine points and 10 assists.
A Sara Messler bucket on the fast break staked the Hawks to a 13-9 lead with 3:03 to play in the first quarter, and Ashley Briggs kept it a four point advantage nearly two minutes later with a reverse layup off the glass with 1:01 remaining. After Ellie Leszyk answered with a jumper at the top of the key, Erin Waters was fouled in the closing seconds of the period, knocking down both free throws, to give Saint Anselm an 18-14 lead after one quarter.
Candace Andrews knocked down back-to-back jumpers to extend the lead to 25-18 with 6:35 to play before later extending the lead to 29-20 after assisting on a Michaela Martin score and burying another jumper. Andrews continued the run when she knocked down a jumper at the 3:20 mark that gave the Hawks a 31-20 advantage and forced a Le Moyne timeout.
The Dolphins answered with an 11-0 run capped by an Ailayia Demand layup that tied the score at 31-all with just over a minute to play in the period. Nicole Riddick knocked down a jumper to give Le Moyne a short-lived 33-31 lead before Kaila Duarte banked home an alley-oop layup before the horn to knot the game at 33-33 headed into halftime.
The two teams traded baskets out of the break until a three in the corner from Emma Daly followed by a layup from Kaila Duarte staked the Hawks to a 42-37 lead with 4:38 to play. Le Moyne answered with five-straight points, but another triple from Daly put the Hawks back ahead 45-42. Ailayia Demand buried a triple to tie before Duarte and Joanna Dobrovosky traded scores to make it a 47-47 game after three quarters.
The Hawks raced out to a 55-49 lead behind triples from Ali Glennon and Clairee Putnam, and another triple from Glennon at the 5:40 mark put Saint Anselm ahead 58-53. Le Moyne trimmed the lead to one following a jumper by Nicole Riddick, and she later tied the game with a free throw to make it a 60-60 game and 1:17 to play.
On the ensuing Saint Anselm possession, Candace Andrews drove to the basket and switched hands in mid-air scooping in the lefty layup to give the Hawks a 62-60 lead with 53 seconds remaining. The Hawks continued to get stops on defense and made just enough free throws down the stretch to hang on for the 65-60 victory.
Saint Anselm shot 42.6% (23-of-54) from the field, 36.8% (7-of-19) from three and 60% (12-of-20) from the charity stripe. Le Moyne ended the game shooting 43.3% (26-of-60) from the floor, 25% (4-of-16) from three and 50% (4-of-8) from the free throw line. The Hawks won the rebounding battle 37-34, while committing only one more turnover (11) than the Dolphins (10).
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