RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team secured a 68-46 victory over Felician University on Thursday in non-conference play.

Saint Anselm, led by junior Gabby Turco (Wildwood, N.J.) and her team-leading 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, improves to 7-9 overall on the year while Felician drops to 6-8. Turco also led student-athletes from both teams in minutes played (34).

Freshman Harmony Marquez (Rutherford, N.J.) produced a career-high 13 points and seven rebounds in just her second collegiate start. Junior Alexa Quirolo (New Rochelle, N.Y.) scored 11 points off the bench while sophomore Melanie Hoyt (Stamford, N.Y.) turned in 10 points with six rebounds.

After going 0-for-11 from distance just two days ago against Holy Family, the Hawks were 8-for-16 (.500) against the Golden Falcons in what is the third-best perimeter shooting performance of the season. Marquez was a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arc.

Saint Anselm opened up an 11-7 lead early in the game before firing off a dominant 20-0 scoring run – Turco, Quirolo and Marquez each had five points for the Hawks in the nearly nine-minute span as the team limited Felician to an 0-for-13 shooting performance from the floor.

The Hawks had a game-high lead of 29 points in the third quarter, using a Hoyt layup just minutes into the second half of play. Felician outscored Saint Anselm in the second half, 33-to-29, but the early lead by the Hawks held up.

Saint Anselm heads to Southern New Hampshire on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m. to restart Northeast-10 Conference play.