BOX SCORE
POSTGAME QUOTES
West Hartford, Conn. – The University of Hartford women's basketball team will make its seventh appearance in the America East Championship game after knocking out the top seeded UMBC Retrievers 66-48 on Saturday in the semifinals. The Hawks will meet the #2 seed Boston University Terriers on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. in Boston to decide the 2011 Champion and league representative in the NCAA Tournament. Follow HartfordHawks.com for continued updates on tickets and fan busses for the championship game at Boston University.
The 2011 Championship game will be just the second time, in the seven appearances, that the Hawks will play in the title game away from their home court. Having hosted the America East Championship nine of the last 10 years, the Hawks have never won a title game away from the Chase Family Arena. Hartford's only other appearance in the title game away from Hartford came in 2007 when the Hawks lost to UMBC, 48-46, at Binghamton's Events Center. The win for Hartford over UMBC was the first ever against the Retrievers in tournament action with the only other meeting the 2007 title game.
The title game appearance against Boston University will mark the fourth time the Hawks and Terriers have battled for a championship in the last seven years. The title match has also featured either a Hartford or Boston University team for 10-straight seasons.
The Hawks defense proved too much for the Retrievers who were held nine points shy of their season average of 57.1 points-per-game. Hartford forced the Retrievers, who average 15 turnovers-per-contest into 21 turnovers and turned those miscues into 24 points. The Hawks also managed 14 steals in the game, a season high.
Overall, the Hawks were led by two of their starting sophomores, Daphne Elliott and Alex Hall. Elliott finished the game with 13 points to lead all Hawks scorers, while Hall added 11 points. Senior Jackie Smith finished just behind the pair with nine points, while Ilicia Mathis added eight points and Nikkia Smith added in seven.
For the game, the Hawks shot 37.2 percent (16-of-43), while holding UMBC to 30.6 percent (15-of-49) shooting. The Hawks finished with six total three points, going 6-of-17 (35.3 percent) for the game, while they shot 75.7 percent at the free throw line where they hit 28-of-37 free throws. Smith (Nikkia) finished the game with four steals and three assists, both leading the team, while her four steals set a new career high.
The Hawks finished the game with a 35-33 advantage on the boards, led by a career high nine from Elliott. Senior Mary Silvia grabbed five boards, while four players all finished with four rebounds each; Hall, Smith (Nikkia), Ruthanne Doherty and Taylor Clark.
Hartford never trailed in the game with Elliott scoring the first points of the game on a three points off a feed from Doherty. First Team All-Conference honoree Erin Brown scored the Retrievers first bucket nearly four-and-a-half minutes into the game, but those would be the only points over the first eight minutes as the Hawks built a 15-2 lead on a 12-0 run. Eight of the last 10 points in the run all came at the free throw line.
UMBC answered by scoring a pair of three pointers from Meghan Colabella and Brown broken up by a layup from Smith (Nikkia). The Retrievers cut the Hawks lead down to six with 7:00 minutes remaining before the break, but Hartford answered with a three pointer from Silvia. That three pointer for Silvia, which was her only in the game, leaves her six shy of tying former teammate MaryLynne Schaefer's singe season record of 63 three pointers made.
After a pair of free throws from Michelle Kurowski cut the Hartford lead to seven, the Hawks scored 10 unanswered points pushing their lead back into double figures and to its largest of the half of 17 with 1:31 remaining before halftime. The Retrievers would score the final four points of the half, all at the free throw line, but the Hawks still took a double digit, 31-18, lead into the locker room.
Hartford would not allow UMBC to get within single digits the rest of the game as they quickly matched the first half's largest lead with 15:52 remaining in the game on a layup from Doherty. UMBC would get no closer than 16 points the remainder of the game, the final time with 6:23 remaining in regulation on a layup from Kristin Coles off an assist from Michele Brokans.
Hartford quickly extended its lead to more than 20 points by scoring 10 of the next 11 poijnts to take a 60-35 lead with under four minutes to play. That margin, of 25, would prove to be the largest for the Hawks.
