BOX SCORE
West Hartford, CT – In her first game back this season, after sustaining a wrist injury, junior guard Mary Silvia led the Hawks, with a career-high 20 points, to a 65-54 victory over the Temple Owls on Saturday afternoon. Hartford improves to 4-1 overall, while handing the Owls their first loss of the season, 5-1.
Along the way to her career-high, Silvia tied a school record for three pointers made in a single game with six, finishing 6-of-9 from long range. She also added a pair of free throws to round out her scoring. Her 20 point outing is the second-straight game the Hawks have had a player hit 20 or more points, the previous was Alex Hall against Dartmouth.
Silvia was the only Hawk in double figures, however the five starters all finished one bucket shy of reaching double figures. Finishing second for the Hawks was senior post Diana Delva who finished with nine points, along the way breaking a personal milestone, becoming the 12th player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points.
A trio of Hawks all finished with eight points, Jackie Smith, Erica Beverly and Ilicia Mathis, while Hall added seven points. Hartford finished the game shooting 35.3 percent from the field (18-of-51), while holding Temple to 31.6 percent from the field (18-of-57).
Temple won the battle of the boards with a 44-33 advantage, led by a pair of player to grab at least 10 rebounds, Jasmine Stone (13) and Kristen McCarthy (10). Leading the way in scoring for the Owls was Shaqwedia Wallace with 18 points and Stone with 11.
After allowing the Owls to take an early 4-2 lead, Hartford stormed off to a 16-8 lead with 13:00 minutes to play in the first half. The lead came off the second of five first half three pointers from Silvia. The junior guard hit her first five shots of the game.
Temple kept the score within single digits until late in the first half when the third Silvia three pointer game Hartford a 29-17 advantage, its first in double figures. Temple pulled as close as six points with just over two minutes before the break, but Hartford answered by scoring the final six points of the half, taking a 38-26 advantage into the locker room at the break.
Coming out of the break, Hartford allowed an opening basket by the Owls, but then scored the next seven points to take a 48-31 advantage. The run began with back-to-back three pointers from Mathis, both within a 40-second span.
Hartford extended its lead to as much as 20 with 10:53 to play before the break. The largest lead of the game, 53-33, came off a pair of free throws from Smith. The Owls then began chipping into the lead, getting as close as 10 points on three different occasions, the last with just over a minute remaining. Smith secured the victory for Hartford with four free throws in the final minute.
Hartford returns to action with a road trip against in-state rival Sacred Heart on Tuesday night in Fairfield, CT. The Hawks and Pioneers are set to tangle at 7:00 p.m. at the Pitt Center.
