BOX SCORE
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico - Despite holding their opponent to 51 points, the Hawks shooting struggles continued as they fell to the Utah Utes 51-45 in the second game of the Caribbean Challenge at Aventura Palace. The Hawks (1-5 overall) were led by senior Jackie Smith who finished with 17 points.
The Hawks finished the game shooting just 26.7 percent from the field (16-of-60), while also holding the Utes to 34 percent (17-of-50). Smith scored 15 of her 17 points from outside the arc where she finished 5-of-12, while going 6-of-13 for the game. She also added three assists and two rebounds.
Sophomore's Alex Hall and Nikkia Smith finished second for the Hawks with nine points each, while Hall led the Hawks rebounding efforts with 10 boards, her first double figure rebounding night. As a team, the Hawks lost the battle of the boards by a 42-38 margin.
Utah scored the first four points of the game before Jackie Smith put Hartford on the board with a three pointer just over three minutes in. After that bucket was match by Iwalani Rodrigues, Smith answered again with a three pointer before Nikkia Smith hit a jumper to give the Hawks an 8-7 lead, their first lead since coming to Cancun.
The Hawks would hold that lead through to halftime. They opened up their largest lead with 8:50 to play in the game on a three pointer from Ilicia Mathis which gave Hartford a 15-9 advantage. The Utes would answer by scoring five-straight to tie the game and would knot the game once more at 22 before the final buck of the half from Nikkia Smith with 2:15 remaining before the break.
Coming out of the halftime intermission, the Hawks shooting struggles began right away as they started the half just 2-of-20, which allowed Utah to open up a 37-28 lead with 9:04 to play. That lead came on back-to-back three point plays from Brittany Knighton and Janita Badon who both drove to the hoop for the layup and were fouled.
The Hawks began a late turn following the under eight media timeout when Mathis and Jackie Smith went back-to-back from downtown to cut the lead to 36. The Hawks would get one point closer on a free throw from Hall.
After trading buckets for the next three minutes the Hawks shooting woes returned as they failed to connect on eight attempts in the final two minutes of the game. The Utes would then force back-to-back turnovers putting the game to far out of reach, 49-40, with 1:12 remaining.
Jackie Smith would make one more push for the Hawks with a three pointer with :49 seconds remaining and the Hawks forced a steal on the ensuing inbounds but couldn't connect on a pair of three point attempts and a layup.
The Hawks will play one more before heading back to the lower 48 states. Hartford and Penn State will play the final game of the Caribbean Challenge on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. eastern standard time.
