BOX SCORE
West Hartford, Conn. – Junior Nikkia Smith finished with a career-high 25 points, the most for any Hawk this season, powering the Hawks past the Harvard Crimson 72-61 on Thursday in the final non-conference home game at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Hartford improves to 9-4 in non-league play and will take on the Providence College Friars on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the final non-conference game of the season.
Smith led all players in the game with her 25 point performance, which is the most for Hartford since Diana Delva scored 30 points against Quinnipiac in December of 2008. Smith finished the game with an 11-of-17 shooting performance with 21 of her points coming in the first half. She led four Hawks in double figures with Daphne Elliott adding 14, Ruthanne Doherty adding 13 and Amber Bepko chipping in 10 her second collegiate game in double figures.
The Hawks finished the game shooting 49.2 percent as a team (30-of-61), including a 58 percent performance in the first half (18-of-31) as Smith lit up the scoring column, finishing the half 9-of-11 and 3-of-3 at the free throw line. Smith also led the Hawks rebounding with six boards as the Crimson won the battle of the boards 36-30. Elliott added five rebounds to go along with a career-high nine assists, the most for the Hawks this season and the most since January 26, 2011 when Jackie Smith matched that number. As a team, the Hawks finished with 22 assists with sophomore Alyssa Englert adding five and three players who each contributing a pair.
Defensively, the Hawks forced 24 Harvard turnovers, netting 26 points off those miscues. Bepko finished with four steals, tying her career high for the third time. Doherty added three steals and Elliott had a pair of swipes to her credit as the Hawks finished with 12 as a team. Smith would also led the team with two blocks, of three total for Hartford.
The Hawks would come out scoring form from the star as Smith opened the scoring with a layup off a feed from Elliott 17 seconds into the action. Englert would get on the board with a fast break layup off a missed Harvard bucket and a floor length pass from Elliott, her second assist in as many possessions.
Elliott would answer the Crimson's first bucket of the game with the Hawks first three pointer to give Hartford an early 7-2 lead. After chipping that lead down to a pair, the Hawks answered with five straight points to build a seven point cushion with all seven points coming from Smith, part of nine straight points for the junior from Montville, Conn.
Smith would net her 15th point on a layup with 8:19 remaining in the first half, a bucket that gave the Hawks their first double digit lead of 11, 27-16. That lead would be extended to as much as 13 on another two points from Smith as the Hawks held the Crimson without a basket for nearly two minutes, scoring six straight in that drought.
That lead would be extended to as much as 15 on two occasions in the first half, both of which came on baskets from Smith. Harvard would hold the Hawks without points for the final 2:12 of the half but would manage just two points in that span on a layup from Christine Clark with 34 seconds to play, leading to a 41-29 Hawks advantage at the break.
The teams would end up trading buckets for the first seven minutes of the second half with the Hawks building its lead back 15 on a three pointer from Elliott with 14:43 remaining. After another bucket from Elliott with 13:01 remaining in the half put the Hawks lead at 14, the Crimson began a run that cut the Hawks advantage down to as little as six with 7:44 remaining in the game. The 8-0 run for Harvard came to an end with a jumper from Bepko from just inside the three point arc that put the Hawks advantage at 57-49 with 7:27 left.
After a Clark layup put the Crimson's deficit back to six with 6:17 to play the Hawks began building its lead back into double figures with back-to-back buckets, a layup from Bepko and a three pointer from Elliott that put the lead back to 11. Hartford would build its lead back to as much as 14 in the later minutes of the half, that lead coming on a layup from Doherty with 2:24 remaining.
The Hawks final non-conference game on Saturday will be the third in a series of six games that are scheduled to air live on CPTV Sports throughout Connecticut. It also represents the first road game that the Hawks will televise on CPTV, a relationship that spans the last three years. Fans looking to watch the Providence game can find it on Comcast channels 185, 187 and 744 or on Cox channel 144.
