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LOWELL, Mass. – Senior guard Shannon Samuels (Windsor, Conn.) hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to lift the UMass Lowell women's basketball team to a 86-85 thriller over Bryant at Costello Athletic Center Wednesday evening.
 
Samuels poured in 19 of her season-high 31 points in the second half to bring the River Hawks (5-4) back from a deficit as large as 16. The win was the River Hawks fourth in a row at home and trimmed the Bulldogs (6-3) all-time series lead to 19-12, while improving to 8-9 at home against BU.
 
The River Hawks trailed for nearly 31 minutes prior to Lindsey Doucette's (Hopkinton, Mass.) go-ahead runner off the right block to go up 67-66, part of a 17-8 run. Samuels and Doucette combined for all 17 points with Samuels scoring 11 to Doucette's six.
 
The final nine minutes of the contest seesawed back and forth with the teams exchanging the lead 12 times. Bryant's Jenniqua Bailey and Samuels took over down the stretch with Bailey making a layup to put Bryant up 83-82 before Samuels made one of her own. Bailey was fouled with nine seconds and made both free throws to give her team their final lead of the night as Samuels was fouled on the ensuing inbound. The senior calmly sank her free throws before the Bulldogs last second attempt rimmed out.
 
Bryant stormed out of the gates by scoring the games first eight points before Jasmine McRoy (Gaithersburg, Md.) got UMass Lowell on the board with a layup just over two minutes into the game. The Bulldogs went go on to make 21 of their 44 first half field goals and took a 52-40 lead into the break before the River Hawks rallied for their second straight win after trailing at the half.
 
McRoy finished second on the team with 20 points while adding five rebounds and a block.
 
The River Hawks will have a lengthy break before traveling to Durham, N.C. to play the No. 13 Duke Blue Devils on December 19 at 6:30 p.m.

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