COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team won its third game in a row, defeating Saint Michael's College in the Green Mountain State by a 57-49 margin.
The Hawks improve to 5-7 overall on the year and to 2-6 versus Northeast-10 Conference opponents. As the calendar year turns to 2022, Saint Michael's (1-8, 0-6 NE10) remains in search of its first league victory and has lost to the Hawks in 10 consecutive contests.
Junior Gabby Turco (Wildwood, N.J.) led student-athletes from both teams with 20 points, adding three assists with three rebounds. Classmate Liv Robles (Wallingford, Conn.) picked up her second double-double in the last three games, scoring 14 points with 10 rebounds to her credit.
Sophomore Melanie Hoyt (Stamford, N.Y.) was responsible for 13 points and four rebounds, posting two steals to lead the way for Saint Anselm as the visitors led from the first basket, opening up a game-high advantage of 16 points just into the second quarter.
Saint Anselm opened up a 15-2 lead to begin the game as five point scorers fueled the strong start. Robles hit back-to-back jumpers to begin the game before Hoyt added four points of her own. Additionally, junior Alexa Quirolo (New Rochelle, N.Y.) came off the bench with a triple just seven-plus minutes in.
The Hawks led by double-digit point scoring totals for the next two quarters and had a 13-point lead late in the third stanza. Saint Michael's responded to this lead with nine-straight points spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter, shrinking the lead instantly to just four points, 42-38.
Saint Anselm put the game out of reach by scoring 12 of the game's next 17 points, recreating an 11-point bulge. Saint Michael's would not go quietly, trimming the lead to five points with 1:40 left, but the Hawks offense was strong when it counted.
The victory was also the 80th in the Saint Anselm career of Head Coach Corey Boilard, who improves to 164-102 (.617) between his Hawks tenure and Johnson & Wales (R.I.) University.
Saint Anselm hosts nationally-ranked Assumption (11-1, 5-1 NE10), who lost its first game on Saturday, on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 5:30 p.m. in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
