MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm women's basketball team battled to a 69-66 win over city rival Southern N.H. on Tuesday evening as senior Melanie Hoyt (Stamford, N.Y.) scored 29 points and Tatum Forbes (Pawtucket, R.I.) flirted with a triple double.
UP NEXT: 

• Saint Anselm travels to Waltham Massachusetts on Saturday January 18^th to take on a talented Bentley squad with a 1:30pm tip-off time.

Score: Saint Anselm 69, Southern N.H. 66
Records: Saint Anselm (9-5, 6-3 NE10), Southern N.H. (8-7, 4-5 NE10) 
Location: Manchester, N.H. (Stan Spirou Field House)
Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Attendance: 225
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The first bucket of the first quarter of action would come off of a drive and dish from Tatum Forbes (Pawtucket, R.I.) who fed teammate Melanie Hoyt (Stamford, N.Y.) on the baseline for a short jumper. The Hawks would take off to an 11-4 advantage behind eight points from Hoyt and a silencing triple from freshman Addisen Sulikowski (Saco, Maine). The home team would respond with a run of their own tying the game at 13-a-piece as Meghan Gordon would connect from deep. The quarter would come to an end with back-to-back buckets for Southern N.H. but not before the Hawks would take a 24-18 advantage.
• Strong shooting would continue for Saint Anselm as Katie Lemanski (Haymarket, Va.) would connect on a pull-up jumper and Forbes a step-back from the elbow to extend the lead to double digits. With four minutes remaining in the half the Hawks would find their biggest lead at 12 points as Anna Nelson (Gorham, Maine) cashed in from deep off of a feed from Forbes. A bucket from the Penmen would stunt the Saint Anselm run temporarily, but Kaitlin McDonough (Wilton, N.Y.) would prove to be an issue in the paint scoring off and offensive board and helping push in transition to extend to a 15-point lead. A pair of buckets from Southern N.H.'s Madison Hughes would cut the lead to eight going into halftime.
• Saint Anselm would strike first to open the second half of play as Hoyt scored her 12^th point of the contest on a pick and pop with teammate Lemanski. A 5-0 Penmen run would bring the game within five, 40-35, as Abby Wagner would connect from deep. Hoyt would continue to shine for the Hawks scoring back-to-back-to-back buckets to keep the Hawks ahead by six. Wager would attempt to keep the Penmen within 10 but a pair of free throws from Hoyt would keep the double-digit deficit.
• The fourth quarter of action would prove to be the most competitive between the two teams as Ava Winterburn would strike first for Southern N.H. cashing in from deep to bring the game within seven. The home team would fight to get the game within tow as a steal from Matilde Baron would lead to a Stephanie Davis bucket in transition. Hoyt would continue to be a presence in the paint for the Hawks as she would score off a feed from Marta Pons Gomez (Sevilla, Spain), who would then score in transition off of a Hoyt rebound. The two teams would continue to exchange buckets for the next few minutes of action until the Penmen would bring the game within one point. A pair of free throws from Hoyt would seal the deal for the Hawks and bring them to a 69-66 win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Hoyt (12-16 FG, 5-5 FT) led the offensive strike on Tuesday scoring a team-high, 29 points to go with five rebounds. Forbes (3-10 FG, 0-2 3PT, 6-8 FT) scored the next highest with 12 points, to go with 11 assists, and nine rebounds.
• Saint Anselm shot 42.6% from the floor going 26-61 attempts, and 84.6% from the charity stripe going 11-13.

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