Jan. 7, 2012

Box Score

Freshman G Mariah Hankton scored 22 points to lead Southern Connecticut State University over UMass Lowell, 79-71, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball game at the Moore Fieldhouse.

The loss was the fourth straight for the River Hawks, who fell to 4-9 overall and 3-6 in the NE-10 entering Tuesday night's game at Adelphi.

The Owls earned their seventh straight win and improved to 9-2 overall and 7-2 in the Conference.

The loss spoiled a stellar effort by junior G Bianca Simmons (Middletown, Conn.), who compiled 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Senior F Sha'nay Bushner (Akron, Ohio) added 18 points, four rebounds and four steals while shooting 7-13 from the field before drawing her fifth foul with 5:46 left to play.

Sophomore G Danielle DePierro (Tewksbury, Mass.) chipped in 14 points and four rebounds.

“There was a mixture of small things that we did,” said head coach Sarah Behn. “We’d miss a layup, we missed some free throws. There was just a little bit of bad luck. But overall the effort was so much better and our intensity was so much better.”

Hankton shot 7-10 from the field and dished out four assists while junior F Keshia Primo added 18 points, hitting 8-10 field goals. Senior G Sylvonya Moore registered 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists while senior G Alex Fiola, older sister of UMass Lowell sophomore Lauren Fiola (Fall River, Mass.), chipped in 12 points and five assists.

Southern Connecticut shot .500 for the game (27-54) - 9-18 from 3-point range - including .607 in the second half (17-28). UMass Lowell shot .390 for the game (23-59) - .273 from 3-point range (6-22) - but .344 in the second half (11-32).

The Owls' shooting advantage offset their 22 turnovers, opposed to UMass Lowell's 13. The River Hawks outscored Southern Connecticut 26-11 off turnovers.

“We did a good job taking care of the ball,” Behn added. “We followed the game plan to a ‘t’ in the first half. We tried to keep it up in the second half and but over the last 10 minutes we couldn’t. Southern is tough to beat. I think they’re going to end up one of the top teams.”

Southern Connecticut led 67-57 with 5:21 left to play, but UMass Lowell erupted with a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 71-69 with 2:26 remaining. DePierro led the run with six points while Simmons added four and junior F Brianna Wilson (Lowell, Mass.) a conventional 3-point play to cap the spurt.

The Owls, however, responded with five straight points - a trey by Fiola and free throws by Moore - to grab a 76-69 lead with 1:43 left, a lead they would not relinquish.

In the first half, UMass Lowell trailed 23-22 with 5:19 left in the half, but came on with a 14-1 sport to post a 36-24 with 27 seconds left until halftime. The River Hawks led at the break, 36-28.