West Hartford, CT ? The Hartford women's basketball team behind the three point shooting of MaryLynne Schaefer and the rebounding of Katie Kelley defeated America East rival UMBC 58-45 at Chase Arena on Wednesday. The Hawks improve to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in the America East while the Retrievers drop to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
Danielle Hood led the Hawks in scoring with 19 points while Schaefer finished with a career best five three pointers for 15 points while also grabbing eight boards, and was named the Nestle Purina ONE America East Player of the Game for the Hawks. Kelley finished with a career high of 16 rebounds with 13 coming in the second half. Ikea Witt also finished in double digits with 10 points.
Hartford outrebounded the Retrievers 42-27 for the game with Kelley and Schaefer leading the team. Sharri Rohde led the Retrievers with nine rebounds. She also added 10 points while Brittnie Hughes added 10. Hughes was named the America East Player of the Game for UMBC. The Hawks finished the game shooting 42.0 percent on 21-of-50 while holding the Retrievers to only 32.7 percent on 18-of-55.
Hartford fell behind in the middle of the first half by as much as 11 with 12:36 to play. The Retrievers started out hot, making 12 of their first 15 shots to take a 21-10 advantage. The lead was made possible using a 12-0 run, which featured five-straight points from Hughes.
The Hawks pulled within three, 21-17 with 10:27 to play and then held the Retrievers to only two points in the final 10 minutes and took a two point lead into the break. Hartford used that scoring drought for UMBC to run off 13 points. Back-to-back three pointers from Schaefer and Courtney Gomez tied the score at 28. A Danielle Matulis scored on a layup with 45 second to play in the half to take a lead into halftime.
Schaefer and Hood led the Hawks in the first half with nine points each. The Hawks shot 44 percent in the first half on 11-of-25 from the floor while finishing 4-of-7 from long range. The hawks held an 18-13 advantage on the boards in the first 20 minutes led by Schafer with four.
Schafer began the second half with a three pointer 51 seconds in. The Retrievers battled to tie the score at 37 with 15:18 to play. The Hawks defense then kicked in, again holding the Retrievers to only two baskets in the final 15 minutes, taking as much as a 15 point lead. UMBC scored only eight points in the final 15 minutes, with four coming at the free throw line.
The Hawks will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to the capital of New York for a 2:00 p.m. game against the Albany Great Danes.
