West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford women's basketball team won their 22nd game of the season with a 67-45 win over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks never trailed in the game and were led by the Nestle Purina ONE America East Player of the Game Lisa Etienne who tied her career high, for the second straight game, with 17 points.
Etienne's 17 points led all players in the game. She tallied the same amount of points in the Hawks (22-5 overall, 12-2 AE) win at Albany on Wednesday night, with all of her points against the Great Danes coming in the first half. Etienne finished the game shooting 6-of-8 from the field, including making both of her three point attempts. She also finished 3-of-4 at the free throw line.
Etienne was joined in double figures by Diana Delva and Danielle Hood who each scored 10 points. Delva completed her second double double of the season, sixth of her career, with 12 rebounds, leading the Hawks to a 36-30 advantage on the boards. Today's win over Maine (7-21 overall, 4-11 AE) completes the season sweep of the Black Bears and is the seventh straight win over Maine.
Following Delva's double digit rebound effort was Erica Beverly who finished with seven boards. She also added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Delva also shot well, finishing 4-of-6 from the field, while freshman Mary Silvia finished 3-of-5 shooting with eight total points. The Hawks combined to shoot 46 (26-of-57) percent from the field, including a 48 (14-of-29) percent first half effort.
Maine shot just 35 percent for the game (17-of-49), finishing with nine first half buckets and eight in the second half. Amanda Tewksbury and Christina Mosher led the Black Bears with 11 and 10 points respectively. Tewksbury was named Maine's America East Player of the Game.
The Hawks also compiled 16 assists, on 26 total baskets. Leading the team was Silvia who finished with a career best four. Silvia also topped her career high in steals with three, which was tied with Beverly and Delva for the team lead. Hartford forced the Black Bears into 20 turnovers and converted those into 13 points. The Hawks also transformed their 12 offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points, compared to eight for Maine.
Hartford opened the game on a 7-1 run and quickly put the game into a double figure lead after five straight points from Silvia, giving Hartford a 16-5 advantage. Beverly also shined in the opening minutes, scoring six of the teams first nine points. Maine would get the score back into single digits just three more times in the game, the final coming with 6:33 to play before the break on a Tewksbury free throw.
Hartford used a 10-2 run to open up their biggest lead of the first half and doubling up the Black Bears 36-18 with 3:37 to play. Maine managed to cut the lead to 14 before the break, with the Hawks taking a 36-22 advantage into the locker room for the intermission.
Hartford extended its lead into the 20's with 14:38 to play at 44-24. The biggest lead of the game came with just over 13 minutes to play in the game, following a Jamie McCabe three pointer, which gave Hartford 51-27 advantage.
The Black Bears would only get as close as 18 points in the final 10 minutes of the game. That came following a pair of three pointers from Kris Younan, the second with 4:06 to play. Younan would score the final point of the game on a free throw with 48 seconds remaining. Hartford would dribble out the remaining time after a missed jumper with 19 seconds remaining.
The Hawks will close out the regular season home schedule with Stony Brook on Wednesday night. The Seawolves will travel to Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion for Senior Day, with Hartford honoring Hood, McCabe and Courtney Gomez prior to the 7:00 p.m. tip off.
