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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford women's basketball team remains unbeaten on its home court with a 65-56 victory over the CCSU Blue Devils on Tuesday night in front of 1,303 at The Chase Family Arena at The Reich Family Pavilion. Hartford (3-1 overall) was led by junior guard Alex Hall who scored a game-high 19 points, leading three players in double figures.
Hall joined fellow classmates Ruthanne Doherty and Nikkia Smith in compiling a double figure night. Doherty finished just above her average with 16 points, while Smith put together her first game with double digits adding 14 points. All three finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field with Hall and Doherty each going 6-of-12, while Smith finished 5-of-10. As a team, Hartford shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58), struggling mightily from outside the arc going 2-of-16 for 13.3 percent.
The Hawks also won the battle of the boards with a 38-35 edge led by Doherty who finished with seven boards. Sophomore Milana Gilbert, who led the team at Notre Dame, finished just behind her with six boards while Hall added five and Smith and Daphne Elliott chipped in four each.
The Hawks stayed well below their average in turnovers, after giving up a season high against the Fighting Irish, finishing with 14. The Blue Devils capitalized on those miscues, turning them into 20 points. Hartford would manage 15 points off of the 19 turnovers forced against CCSU. The Hawks also led the way in points in the paint with a 28-20 advantage and second chance points with a 14-10 margin.
Hartford took its first lead right off the tip when Hall scored from beyond the 21 feet off a feed from Elliott just 17 seconds into the action. The Hawks would keep that lead until the 11:15 mark in the first half when Lauren Arbogast scored a jumper taking a 9-8 lead. That lead change was the first of six straight with the Hawks taking the lead back for good on a three pointer from Shanise Bultron with 8:40 remaining.
The Hawks would extend their lead to as much nine in the first half, using an 11-1 run that spanned 4:19. Doherty would provide the final bucket in that run, a jumper off a feed from Hall with 4:41 remaining before the break. The Blue Devils pulled that lead to as little as three before the Hawks rattled off the final four points of the half, taking a 27-20 advantage into the locker room.
With the Blue Devils not scoring over the final 3:33 of the first half, the Hawks extended that scoreless drought well into the second half, a total of 8:18 between the two halves. That drought led to a 13 point lead which came from a pair of free throws from Elliott, an area where the Hawks struggled overall going 19-of-32 (59.4 percent) as a team.
The Hawks lead capped out at as high as 14 with 9:14 remaining in the game. Doherty again provided the offense that led to the largest lead of the game, this time converting an old fashioned three point play, with the first basket coming on an offensive rebound.
The Blue Devils wouldn't go down without a fight lowering its lead into single digits three more times before all was said and done. The visitors managed to pull within six points on two occasions, the second coming with 25 seconds remaining in the game. Following a pair of free throws from the Blue Devils Johnna Fisher, the Hawks would hit one of two free throws before Doherty stole the ball from behind on Jaclyn Babe and easily put the game in the book with a layup with 23 second remaining.
Hartford returns to action on Friday and Saturday when they compete in the UCF Thanksgiving Classic in Orlando, Fla. The Hawks will take on the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday at 12:00 noon and then face the host Knights on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
