Durham, NH ? Danielle Hood scored 18 first half points (22 total) to lift the Hartford women's basketball team to its seventh-straight America East victory 54-45 over New Hampshire on Wednesday night. Hartford improves to 16-7 overall and 9-1 in America East play, while the Wildcats drop to 8-14 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
Hood led all scorers in the game with a 10-of-13 effort from the field. She also added seven rebounds. Ikea Witt added 10 points and Diana Delva added eight points for Hartford. Witt finished the game 4-of-9 shooting, while Delva struggled from the floor but was 6-of-7 at the free throw line.
The Hawks shot 37.3 percent from the field for the game (19-of-51), and held the Wildcats to 19-of-55 for 34.5 percent. Whitney Edwards led the Wildcats with 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The Hawks were successful in holding New Hampshire under 50 points for the game and improve to 13-0 overall when limiting teams to 50 or fewer points.
The Wildcats haven't been able to come back from a half time deficit all season and today was no different. New Hampshire is now 0-12 when trailing at the half. One of the Hawks keys to the game was their rebounding. Hartford put an emphasis on defensive rebounding, holding the Wildcats to only nine offensive boards and only two second chance points, coming in the final seconds of the game. Hartford capitalized on its 11 offensive boards, scoring 15 second change points.
“Any victory on the road is a good one,” said Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti. “New Hampshire is a great team. They take a lot of shots, but I thought we played really well and did a great hob defensively.”
Hood was the difference maker for the Hawks in the first half scoring 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and a pair of free throws. Hood scored the first basket of the game 22 seconds into the action. She then scored three straight baskets to give the Hawks a 14-9 advantage with 9:21 to play in the half.
Hood, after a brief rest, scored back-to-back baskets with 1:12 to play and 47 seconds to play before the break to give the Hawks a 27-19 advantage. A final Harford basket with five seconds, from Lisa Etienne, to play and a half court swish from Whitney Edwards allowed the Hawks to take a seven-point advantage into the break, 29-22. Edwards led the Wildcats in the first half with nine points.
Hartford connected on 12-of-30 first half shots for 40 percent from the field and held the Wildcats to 37.5 percent (9-of-24). Hartford capitalized on their inside game throughout the first half. The Hawks finished with a 16-8 advantage in the paint and an 8-0 advantage on second chance points, finishing the first half with six offensive rebounds.
The Hawks will return to Chase Arena for a three-game home stand, the first of the season. Hartford open's the home stand hosting Vermont on Saturday, February 10 at 2:00 p.m. The Catamounts were the only loss for Hartford in the first half of
the conference schedule.
