West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford women's basketball team locked in the second seed for the upcoming America East Championship with a 57-47 win over the Vermont Catamounts on Wednesday night. Hartford improves to 18-10 on the season and 13-2 in the America East, while Vermont falls to 17-11 overall and 11-4 in conference play and will be the third seed in the upcoming tournament.
The Hawks were led by the Nestle Purina ONE America East Player of the Game Erica Beverly who finished with a game-high 16 points, seven rebounds three assists and two steals. She finished the game shooting 7-of-12 from the field, and was a perfect 2-of-2 at the free throw line. Joining her in double figures was rookie guard Ilicia Mathis with 13 points and senior point guard Lisa Etienne with 10 points.
The Hawks finished the game shooting 38.9 percent from the field (21-of-54) and outrebounded the Catamounts by 18, 43-25, led by senior forward Katie Kelley who finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, the second time this season she has recorded double figure boards.
Vermont shot even with the Hawks, missing one more total field goal (21-of-55) for 38.2 percent. Hartford, as a team missed just one free throw, 10-of-11, while the Catamounts had just one free throw attempt in the game and made it. Vermont did capitalize on the Hawks first half turnovers (13) scoring 10 points.
Vermont's only lead of the game came in the early minutes as reigning America East Player of the Year Courtnay Pilypaitis scored a three pointer to open the scoring. Hartford held Pilypaitis to just six points in the game, she leads the team, averaging 14.4 points-per-game.
The Hawks answered that opening basket by scoring the next eight points, including back-to-back three pointers from Mathis and senior guard MaryLynne Schaefer. Schaefer gave Hartford the 8-3 advantage, scoring the next basket a layup.
Hartford took its first double digit lead with 4:28 to play in the first half, using a 9-2 run to take a 25-15 advantage. Beverly scored three baskets, two jumpers and a layup, in the run. The Hawks took a 28-20 advantage into the break.
The Hawks extended its lead back to 10 in two occasions early in the second half, the second at 38-28 with 13:43 to play in the game. Vermont answered by putting together a 10-3 run, with the first six points coming from May Kotsopoulos, who was named Vermont's America East Player of the Game, and the last four points from Sofia Iwobi. The run pulled Vermont within three, 41-38 with 9:19 to play.
Hartford answered compiling a 6-0 run on baskets from three different post players, Beverly, Delva and Kelley, taking a 49-40 lead with 4:16 to play. The Hawks defense held Vermont without a field goal for just under seven minutes and made eight free throws in the final minute to guarantee the victory.
The Hawks will close out the regular season with the New Hampshire Wildcats at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion on Saturday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. Hartford will honor their three seniors prior to the game, MaryLynne Schaefer, Lisa Etienne and Katie Kelley. The Hawks defeated New Hampshire 59-32 in the first meeting on February 4.
