Hempstead, NY - The Hartford Hawks women's basketball team couldn't rebound from a 26 career point effort from Lana Harshaw as she led the Hofstra Pride to a 70-54 victory in a non-conference game in Hempstead, NY on Friday afternoon. The Hawks drop to 7-5 overall, while the Pride improve to 9-1 for the season. Hartford was led by Ikea Witt who finished with 14 points on a 6-of-13 shooting effort.
Also in double digits for Hartford was Lisa Etienne who finished with 11 points. Danielle Hood and Katie Kelley finished with eight points for Hartford, who struggled form the floor, shooting 31.6 percent for the game (18-of-57). The Hawks connected on only seven first half baskets with 27 total takes (25.9 percent) while connecting on 11-of-30 attempts in the second half for a 36.7 percent effort. The Pride finished with a 10 rebound advantage (50-40) with Harshaw leading all players with 12 boards. Hartford's rebounding efforts were led by Kelley, Witt and MaryLynne Schaefer who all finished with six.
"I don't feel as if we didn't play well," said head coach Jennifer Rizzotti. "We played with a high energy level and a high intensity level, we just need to learn how to channel that energy and intensity to work to our advantage."
After Cigi McColling opened the scoring with a three point basket on the first possession of the game, the Hawks rattled off three-straight baskets to go ahead 6-3. Two of the baskets came from Danielle Hood. The teams traded baskets for the next nine minutes with a pair of ties in that span. The final tie came with 8:37 to play before the break when a Lisa Etienne free throw knotted the score at 16.
Hartford struggled on offense in the later minutes of the first half. Hartford scored only two baskets in the final 13:44 with a total of nine points in that span, five from free throws. That drought allowed the Pride to take a 22-16 lead with 4:29 to play before the break. Both teams fell victim to 25 total fouls in the first half, which led to 26 first half free throws. Neither team took great advantage of their free throw attempts with the Hawks shooting 60 percent at the line (6-of-10) and the Pride connecting on nine of their 16 attempts (56.3 percent).
After a quick free throw for Hartford and a three pointer from Hofstra's Lizanne Murphy game the Pride a 29-21 advantage with only 24 second ticked off the clock in the second half, the Hawks used an 8-0 run to tie the game at 29. Hartford's run featured three straight pull-up jumpers from Witt just inside the free throw line, the final basket of the run came from Kacey Pratt. The Pride used a timeout to regroup and came out on their own 9-0 run to retake a nine point lead with 14:55 to play.
With Hofstra ahead by 12, 36-48, with just under 10 minutes to play the Hawks used a 14-4 run to pull within two, 50-52 with 6:02 to play. Etienne was the Key of the Hawks run, starting it off with an old fashioned three-point play on a pull up jumper and a free throw on the same play. She went on to hit a pair of three pointers, including the one which ended the Hawks run. Diana Delva, Witt and Hood also scored in the run.
Hofstra wasn't going to let it slip away using a 18-3 run through the end of the game to take home the 16-point victory. They began on a 9-0 run before a Hawks free throw from Hood broke the momentum. Hartford then got its last basket of the game on a three pointer from Schaefer with 43 seconds to play.
Today's game was the final before the holiday break for the Hawks who will next play at Connecticut (at the Hartford Civic Center) on December 29, in the final game before the New Year and the final non-conference game of the season.
