West Hartford, CT ? The Boston University Terriers rallied back from as much as a 17-point halftime deficit to snap a second home-court win streak for the Hawks in as many games. Hartford had won 40-straight conference home games coming into the game. The Hawks were led by the Nestle Purina ONE America East Player of the Game Erica Beverly who finished with 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, for her eighth double double of the season.
BU's (19-6 overall 13-0 AE) Kristi Dini hit a three pointer with the six-foot Beverly in her face to tie the game with eight seconds to play, forcing overtime. Hartford's (16-10 overall, 11-2 AE) Lisa Etienne had a chance to tie the game as time expired but the miss forced the second overtime the last three games, and the second-straight at home.
The Hawks last home loss to a conference opponent was a 56-51 loss on February 19, 2005 to the Maine Black Bears. The Hawks went on that year to win their second America East Conference Championship and played Rutgers in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hawks have also not lost back-to-back home games since the 2003-04 season when they lost to Maine 61-40 to end the regular season and dropped a 52-50 decision to Albany in the quarterfinals of the America East Championship in Chase Arena.
The Hawks went 0-10 in the extra period and went a total of 9:04 without a field goal spanning the end of the first half and the overtime period. The Hawks only points in that stretch were eight free throws, three in regulation and five in overtime. The Hawks last basket was a jump shot by Katie Kelley off a feed from Jackie Smith, which gave Hartford a 67-61 advantage just before the final media timeout.
The teams were also tied going into the halftime break, this time by the hand of MaryLynne Schaefer who hit a three pointer with five seconds remaining before the buzzer.
For the game, junior forward/center Diana Delva led all Hawks scorers with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double double of the season, while Boston University's Christine Kinneary led all players with 27 points, a career-high, as she was named the America East Player of the game for the Terriers.
Also finishing in double figures for Hartford was Etienne with 17 points and rookie Ilicia Mathis with 15 points. Mathis finished the game a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line, but struggled from the field connecting on 2-of-13 attempts, including 1-of-6 from long range, which included the Hawks chance to tie the game with seven seconds remaining in the overtime period.
Hartford finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field (22-of-69). The Terriers shot 36 percent for the game (23-of-64). Hartford won the battle of the boards by a 53-42 margin led by Beverly's career-high 16 boards. The Terriers weren't rattled by the Hawks defense, committing only eight turnovers into the game, while forcing Hartford into 13 miscues.
The Hawks will next play at Stony Brook University, in their final regular season road game, on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. Hartford defeated Stony Brook 81-67 in the first meeting on January 24.
