Box Score Junior G Bianca Simmons (Middletown, Conn.) and sophomore G Danielle DePierro (Tewksbury, Mass.) combined for 25 points to lead UMass Lowell to its third straight win – a 56-44 victory over Merrimack in a Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball clash at Hammell Court.

The victory was also UMass Lowell's fourth in five games as it improved to 10-14 overall and 8-11 in the NE-10 entering Tuesday's game at Saint Anselm (5:30). The victory also puts the River Hawks into a share of ninth place in the latest NE-10 standings.

The top 10 teams advance to the NE-10 Tournament Feb. 26-Mar. 4.

Merrimack slipped to 4-19 overall and 3-16 in the NE-10.

Simmons led UMass Lowell with 13 points and five rebounds while DePierro had 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. Junior F Whitney Wilson (Lowell, Mass.) chipped in a career-high 10 points and four rebounds off the bench while shooting 5 for 7 from the floor in only nine minutes.

The River Hawks also received a significant contribution from senior F Sha'Nay Bushner (Akron, Ohio), who added 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals while scoring two points.

Senior G Gennifer Roy led the Warriors with 15 points, four assists and four rebounds while junior F Kelly Schatzlein chipped in 11 points and 17 rebounds.

“Sha'Nay did a great job on (Schatzlein),” said head coach Sarah Behn. “She played a great game. She usually gets closer to 10 points, but today she passed the ball to people who scored. She's a great captain.”

UMass Lowell forced Merrimack into 29 turnovers while committing only 13. The margin led to the River Hawks outscoring the Warriors 23-10 off turnovers.

Neither team shot particularly well – Merrimack .349 (15-43) and UMass Lowell .306 (22-72) – but the River Hawks created 29 more field goal attempts than the Warriors, the result of the disparity in turnovers and a 16-8 rebounding edge on the offensive glass.

“We're playing much better team defense now than we were in January,” said Behn. “The last four or five games it's been improving and keeping us in the game. We had a lot more shots than them. We have a good combination of inside-outside play and it's all stemming from our defense.”

UMass Lowell shot only .270 in the first half (10-37), compared to Merrimack's .300 (6-20), but created 17 more field goal attempts and ended the half with 11 straight points – spurred by consecutive layups by Wilson and a trey by DePierro – to grab a 26-17 lead at the break.

Merrimack never recovered and UMass Lowell built its lead to 50-34 with 9:11 when sophomore G Nyachuol Biliew (Portland, Maine) buried a trey.

“We got contributions from Whitney and Nash (Biliew, eight points, three rebounds),” Behn noted. “That was really important for us.”