West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford women's basketball team dropped is conference opener on a desperation three-pointer from Boston University's Kristen Dini with 0.8 seconds on the game clock. The Hawks were led by Diana Delva who finished with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting and 6-of-8 at the free throw line. The Hawks fall to 10-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Terriers are 8-6 overall and 1-0 in America East action.
Delva was one of two players to finish with double digits, Danielle Hood added 13 points. Hood finished the game shooting 4-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free throw line. As a team, the Hawks shot 36.8 percent from the field (21-of-57). Boston University shot 42.4 percent from the field (25-of-59), including a 50 percent effort in the second half, 16-of-32.
The teams finished in a 35-35 stalemate in the rebounding category. Hartford's Delva and Erica Beverly led the team with eight boards each. The Hawks held a 22-11 advantage in rebounding at the break.
The Hawks opened the game up to an early six-point lead, 8-2 and then extended that to 12-4, before six straight points from the Terriers pulled them within a basket with 13 minutes to play in the first half. After trading baskets for the next four minutes, the Terriers used a triple and a layup to take a 19-18 advantage with 7:04 to play before the break.
The Hawks then rattled off 11-straight, three from Hood, three from Delva and five from McCabe to take a 29-19 advantage with 1:20 remaining in the first half. Hartford held Boston University without a basket for a six-minute stretch, allowing the advantage to grow. The Terriers scored the final basket of the half, a jumper from Kristen Folk with 1:06 on the clock.
Three-straight free throws from Delva allowed the Hawks to take a 15-point advantage with 15:22 to play. That lead was extended to as much as 16 with 11:58 to play after Jackie Smith hit a three pointer off a feed from Jamie McCabe.
Boston then used a 19-4 run, spanning five minutes, to pull within one point, 49-48, with 7:21 to play. The run featured four three pointers for the Terriers, two from Dini. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes before seven-straight gave a 59-55 advantage with 38 seconds to play.
The Hawks answered with a spark off the bench, a three pointer from Mary Silvia with 14 seconds to play. The Terriers then missed the front end of a one-and-one and Hartford responded with a banking jump shot from Lisa Etienne with three seconds on the clock, taking a one-point lead. The Terriers then rushed the ball down the court over the half court line where Dini threw up a desperation shot, with Delva in her face, that banked off the board and in with 0.8 seconds in the game.
Hartford will return to action on Sunday, January 13 when they host Vermont in the America East opener at Chase Arena, the site of the 2008 America East Championship in March. The Hawks and Wildcats will tip things off on Comcast Sports Network at 6:00 p.m.
