BOX SCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
West Hartford, CT – The University of Hartford women's basketball team returned to Chase Arena in style for its first game since January 2, defeating the Maine Black Bears 76-39 on Monday night. The Hawks improve to 5-0 in the America East and 14-3 overall.
Hartford was led by three players in double figures, with all 14 players getting in the game and 10 of them seeing at least two points on the board. Leading all players was Diana Delva who finished with 16 points, while missing just one of her eight field goal attempts. Delva, the Hawks Nestle Purina ONE America East Player of the Game, also led the Hawks with eight rebounds as Hartford out rebounded Maine (5-13, 1-5 AE) 34-26.
Rounding out the leading scorers for Hartford was Erica Beverly who finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 from the field and Mary Silvia who came off the bench for her second-straight double digit game with 11 points on 4-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-6 from long range.
As a team, the Hawks shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field, their highest of the season – previously 53.2 at New Hampshire (25-of-47). The Hawks team highlight came in the form of a season high 24 assists, the most in the previous five year, and two shy of the school record 26 assists in a game. Leading the Hawks in assists was Jackie Smith, the point guard who also leads the team in that category with 56 on the season. Beverly and Alex Hall each added four assists, while Delva added three assists, to go along with three blocks, leading the Hawks in that category.
Defensively, Hartford held Maine to 29.5 percent for the game (13-of-44), including 24 percent in the second half (6-of-25), The Hawks held Maine to just 17 second half points, the fewest for an opponent in 2009-10. The Hawks also forced Maine into 23 turnovers, which they converted into 26 points. On the flip side of holding Maine to 17 second half points, the Hawks scored 45 points in the first half, smashing the previous first half high this season of 38 against Temple.
The Hawks came out of the gate slightly sluggish, even allowing Maine to take a slight one point lead on two occasions, the final at 7-6 with 17:23 to play in the half. The Hawks answered by scoring the next seven points and then 15 of the next 17 points to pull ahead 21-9 with just over 11 minutes to play. That lead came on a three pointer from Daphne Elliott, one of nine three pointers in the game for Hartford.
Hartford saw its lead grow into the 20 point range for the first time with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half as the Hawks put together a 10-0 run to take a 31-11 lead, capped off by a Delva put-back layup. The Hawks biggest lead in the half was 23, which came twice in the final minute of the half, first on a three pointer from Silvia, then on a layup at the buzzer from Ilicia Mathis.
Coming out of the break, the Hawks grew their lead into the 30 point range within the first six minutes as Delva hit a jumper off a feed from Silvia with 14:36 to play in the game.
Maine could only get within 29 points once in the remainder of the game as Samantha Wheeler connected on a layup with 9:43 to play. Hartford biggest lead of the game came with the final basket a layup with 17 second remaining off a pass from Hall.
The Hawks will return to the road for their next game on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Boston University. The game will pit the two remaining undefeated teams in the America East in a showdown for outright privileges to first place in the conference standings.
