Box Score (PDF) | Highlights | Harris Interview

LOWELL, Mass. – For the second consecutive game, the UMass Lowell (3-10) women's basketball team had four players reach double figures as they knocked off the Keene State Owls (4-7), 74-48, in the team's final non-conference game on Friday afternoon.
 
Asia Mitchell-Owens scored a season-high 16 points, and Kayla Gibbs (Teaneck, N.J.) extended her double-digit game streak to 10 consecutive games with 13 points. Katherine Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Markayla Sherman (Cincinnati, Ohio) both chipped in 10. Lauren Parra (Islip, N.Y.) netted a career-high nine points in the effort.  
 
""I'm really excited to be finished with non-conference play and go into America East play with a win," remarked Head Coach Jenerrie Harris. "It was nice to see some of our bench players come in and help us out. I thought that Lauren was great, Markayla had some big minutes and Asia was able to find her rhythm. Keene State was a tough team and I love how hard they play, and it was a great job by our ladies going up against a tough team."

Behind four points from Sherman the River Hawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the contest. UMass Lowell added four more points before the Owls made their first basket of the game with 6:36 on the clock. Sherman led the hosts with six points after the first 10 minutes, as the River Hawks entered the second with a 15-10 advantage.
 
Nicole Hayner (Bedford, N.H.) began the second frame with her second triple to push the lead to 18-10, and spearhead a 7-0 UMass Lowell run to open a 22-10 buffer. Keene State's Lydia Vital hit her squad's first three in 11 attempts to end the spurt and bring the Owls within 22-13 with over seven minutes remaining in the half.
 
Keene State chipped away at the deficit and trailed 26-18 before a 10-0 spurt for the River Hawks opened a 36-18 lead. The Owls ended the run on a Sandi Purcell three with 85 seconds left in the half, and UMass Lowell took a 40-23 advantage into the half.
 
Mitchell-Owens spearheaded the key run with two threes in a minute span, and Parra ended the frame with a basket with nine seconds on the clock.
 
The trio of Smith, Mitchell-Owens and Gibbs reached double-digits in the third quarter, combining for 11 of UMass Lowell's 17 points in the quarter. The River Hawks took a 21-point, 57-36, lead into the final 10 minutes. Sherman chipped in four in the fourth to reach 10.
 
Keene State's Stephanie D'Annolfo grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, and Rachel Bonnanzio led the visitors with 10 points.
 
The River Hawks open conference play at UAlbany on January 4 at 7 p.m.