Hartford, CT - The Hartford Hawks women's basketball team snapped its three-game losing streak with a 61-54 win in the conference opener on the road at Stony Brook on Thursday night. The Hawks improve to 8-6 and 1-0 as they begin the conference portion of the season; Stony Brook drops to 4-9 overall and is now 0-1 in America East action.
Mykeema Ford and Ikea Witt (Vineland, N.J.) led their respective teams and for their efforts were named the America East Players of the game. Witt finished the game with 15 points on a 5-of-8 shooting effort and finished with 5-of-9 at the free throw line. Danielle Hood (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points with a 7-of-17 effort from the field.
Hartford finished with a 40-32 advantage on the boards with MaryLynne Schaefer (Centreville, Va.) and Katie Kelley (Syracuse, N.Y.), who each finished with seven boards. The Hawks finished the game with a 52.4 shooting effort (22-of-42), including their best second half shooting effort of the season with a 62.5 percent showing on 10-of-16. Hartford's defense also held the Seawolves to their lowest shooting percentage of the season at 28.1 percent (18-of-64) for the game.
The Hawks defense was the story in the first half, holding the Seawolves without a made basket for nearly eight minutes with their only points coming at the free throw line. Stony Brook started the game 0-11 with four turnovers, with the Hawks able to open up an early 11-0 lead, extending it to 18-6 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first stanza.
“Tonight's win is a big one for us,” said head coach Jennifer Rizzotti. “This is a tough gym to play in and as we begin conference play this game sets the tone for our team, to win in one of the toughest gyms in the conference. Our biggest improvement in tonights game is that we were able to pull out a close game. We have been in quite a few close games down the stretch and haven't been able to find a way to win, but tonight we did.”
In the opening run for the Hawks, Hood combined with Kelley for the offense. Hood started with the first five points with Kelley adding four, split by a basket from Witt. Following the 12 point lead for the Hawks, the teams traded points for the remainder of the half with the largest Hartford lead coming at 13, twice the second was at 31-18 on a pair of free throws from Kacey Pratt (Rochester, N.Y.).
Hartford took a 31-20 advantage into the break with Hood leading the team with nine points on 4-of-11 shooting. Witt added eight points while all but four of the first 31 points coming from the starting five. Witt finished the first twenty shooting 3-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 at the free throw line.
Hartford finished the first half with a 12-of-26 effort for 46.3 percent while holding the Seawolves to 23.1 percent of 6-of-26 shooting. Hartford also led the rebounding game with 22 firs half boards to 14 for the Seawolves. Schaefer and Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn.) led the Hawks, each finishing the first half with five boards.
After Stony Brook pulled within six with less than 3:30 played in the second half, the Hawks used an 8-0 run to open the game to its biggest lead of 15 with 14:16 to play. The run allowed Hartford to hold the Seawolves without a bucket for more than three minutes. Stony Brook repaid that favor holding the Hawks without a basket for more than four minutes allowing them to pull within five with just over 10 minutes remaining.
After trading baskets for the next four minutes, the Hawks used the momentum of a heaving three pointer as time expired on the shot clock from Courtney Gomez (Lisbon, Conn.) to pull back ahead by double digits 52-42 with 4:48 to play in the game. Four free throws from Gomez and one from Witt helped propel the Hawks to their first conference win of the season, 61-54.
The Hawks return to the friendly confines of Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion to welcome America East foe New Hampshire on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the America East home opener in West Hartford.
