BOX SCORE
Poughkeepsie, NY – The University of Hartford women's basketball team dropped its third game of the season on the road at Marist on Saturday night at the McCann Center. Hartford was led by its only player in double figures, Diana Delva, who finished with 17 points. Hartford falls to 7-3 overall, while Marist improves to 5-5 on the season.
Delva finished the game shooting 75 percent from the field, 8-of-12, while grabbing 10 boards for her fourth double double of the season. Also leading the team was Erica Beverly and Jackie Smith who each added eight points.
As a team, Hartford shot just 26.5 percent from the field, including a season-low 17.1 percent in the second half. Hartford's shooting struggles were primarily from beyond the arc as the finished the game hitting just three of 26 attempts from three point territory.
Hartford came out of the break to score the first bucket, but then allowed eight-straight from Marist, which allowed them to take the largest lead of the game, eight 37-28. After a Delva layup broke up that run, the Red Foxes then rattled off nine-straight, extending the lead into double figures, a lead Marist would never relinquish.
The Hawks shooting went cold for the entire second half, scoring just nine points in the first 15-plus minutes. After scoring the first bucket 13 seconds into the second half, the Hawks wouldn't hit another until the 15:33 mark when Delva scored her second layup of the half. The Hawks again went without a bucket for an extended amount of time, not scoring another basket until the 9:32 mark, a three pointer from Alex Hall.
That long range basket was the last bucket for Hartford until the four minute mark, when Nikkia Smith broke the drought with a jumper with 4:06 remaining. During that span, the Red Foxes were able to open up the lead to as much as 27.
The Teams traded the lead four times in the first four minutes of the game, with the Hawks seeing the largest lead in that span, three on two occasions. The first came on back-to-back Delva layups to go ahead 6-3, while another Delva layup, her fourth-straight, put Hartford ahead 10-7 with 16:21 remaining in the first half.
The Red Foxes answered by using a 9-0 run to taking their second lead of the game, 16-10. The run saw back-to-back baskets for five points from Corielle Yarde and a pair of free throws from Erica Allenspach and Rachele Fitz.
After trading baskets, the Hawks put their first run of the game together with jumpers from Ruthanne Doherty and Mary Silvia and a layup from Delva, giving Hartford a 19-18 lead with 8:49 to play in the half.
The teams then traded the lead three more times before the break with the Hawks final lead of the game coming on back-to-back points in the paint on layups from Beverly and Delva.
The Hawks will return home for their final two games in 2009, hosting the Coppin State Eagles on Monday, December 21 and the Bowling Green Falcons on Wednesday, December 30. Hartford and Coppin State are set to battle at 7:00 p.m. at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Fans are encouraged to bring a canned food donation to the game. Donations will result in discounted admission.
