BOX SCORE
Vestal, N.Y. – Hot defense holds the Binghamton Bearcats to just 37 points as the Hawks are triumphant for the sixth straight game 55-37 at the Binghamton University Events Center on Thursday night. The win for the Hawks puts them in a two-way tie for third place overall with tonight's opponent. The Hawks now stand at 12-14 overall and 9-4 in America East play.
Senior Mary Silvia led the way for Hartford with 13 points, one of just two players in double figures. The senior finished the game shooting 5-of-8 overall and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc to earn America East Player of the Game honors for the Hawks. The only other Hawks to record double figures for Hartford was Ilicia Mathis who finished with 11 points. Both Silvia and Mathis came off the bench, part of a bench that provided 37 of the Hawks 55 total points.
Of the Hawks 10 players in the game, all but one finished with at least two points. Following Silvia and Mathis was Amanda Weaver with seven, Nikkia Smith with six and Daphne Elliott with five. For the game, the Hawks shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52), including a 57 percent second half performance (13-of-23) as the Hawks managed a stretch of six-straight made baskets in the second half. The Hawks also outmatched the Bearcats in points off turnovers as the Hawks turned the home teams 12 turnovers into 13 points, while Binghamton managed just one point off the Hawks eight miscues.
Both teams finished tied in the rebounding battle with 32 boards a piece. All 10 of the Hawks players who saw time in tonight's game finished with at least one rebound as four different players led the team in rebounding with four boards a piece; Jackie Smith, Ruthanne Doherty, Alex Hall and Nikkia Smith. As a team, the Hawks finished with 11 assists, led by the senior point guard Jackie Smith with three. The Hawks three point shooting again excelled as they finished the game 8-of-18 for 44.4 percent.
Defensively, the Hawks held Binghamton to 24.4 percent shooting for the game (11-of-45). The Bearcats struggles came mostly in the second half when they managed just four baskets total in 21 attempts for 19 percent. The Bearcats were very successful at the free throw line where they finished 14-of-16, while Hartford took, and made, just one free throw on the night. For the game, the Bearcats were 1-of-9 from beyond the three point arc.
The Hawks came out of the gate rather sluggish, allowing the home team to get an early 5-0 lead before the rookie Clark put the Hawks on the board with a jumper nearly three minutes in the action. Hartford would answer with five straight to tie the game, one of three ties in the first 11:35 of the game. The final tie came on a layup from Nikkia Smith, which was the first two points in a 10-0 run that gave the Hawks an 18-10 lead, one they would not relinquish the rest of the way. The final six points of that run came on back-to-back three pointers from Mathis.
The home team managed to pull within one point in the late moments of the first half as Kara Elofson completed a three point play with 57 seconds remaining before the break. Silvia would answer with her first three pointer of the game which was the final points of the half for either team as the Hawks took a 25-21 lead into the break.
Coming out of the locker room the Hawks pulled off a 13-3 run, that ended with a 9-0 run to take their first double digit lead of the game, 41-24 with 12:06 remaining. Hartford held the Bearcats without a bucket for spans of 3:59 and 4:11 as they built their lead into a comfortable margin.
The Bearcats would never get much closer than a 41-26 margin with 11:50 remaining in the game as Hartford built its lead to as much as 18 with 3:58 to play on a three pointer from the senior point guard, Jackie Smith.
The Hawks will return to the friendly confines of the Chase Family Arena to welcome in the UMBC Retrievers who enter in a tie for first place in the conference standings with the Boston University Terriers, who they defeated on Thursday 62-52. The Hawks and Retrievers are scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. tip off in the second straight home game on Comcast Sports New England.
