BOX SCORE
Durham, N.H. – The Hartford women's basketball team dropped its third-straight game and fell to 0-2 to start out America East Conference play following a 64-45 loss to New Hampshire on Thursday night in Durham. The Hawks (9-7, 0-2 AE) were led by junior Nikkia Smith who finished with 10 points, the only Hartford player to hit double figures.
Hartford's shooting struggles returned for the second half as they would connect on just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent), finishing the game with a 34.6 percent performance from the floor (18-of-52). The Wildcats (8-6, 1-1 AE) shot 44.4 percent on its home court, connecting on 24-of-54. Denise Beliveau would lead all players in the game with 23 points, one of three Wildcats to hit double figures. She was joined by Morgan Frame with 15 and Kelsey Hogan with 13.
New Hampshire also finished with a 34-28 advantage on the boards led by Beliveau and Frame who led all players in the game with seven points. Ruthanne Doherty led Hartford with six rebounds, while finishing with eight points on a 3-of-13 shooting effort for the Hawks leading scorer. The Hawks would also commit 14 turnovers, which New Hampshire converted into 17 points. New Hampshire also took advantage of their 10 offensive rebounds, scoring 12 second chance points.
The Hawks would be held to just one three point bucket, which came late in the second half and was the final field goal of the game for Hartford. New Hampshire would finish 8-of-14 from beyond the arc. The Hawks did finish the contest with a perfect 8-of-8 performance at the free throw line. The win for New Hampshire snapped 18-straight Hawks victories in the all-time series.
For the second straight game, the Hawks saw themselves down by double digits in the first half, as much as 14 with just under four minutes remaining. New Hampshire opened the game with the first three buckets to take and early 6-0 lead within the first 20 minutes. The Hawks shooting struggles carried over in the early minutes as they opened the game hitting 1-of-7 from the field.
Following the Hawks first bucket from Doherty the Wildcats would extend their opening run to 10-2 before the Hawks would strike again with a jumper from Cherelle Moore with 13:41 remaining in the first half. New Hampshire opened its first double digit lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game following back-to-back buckets, the second of which was a second chance opportunity from Frame.
The Hawks answered that 11 point deficit with back-to-back buckets from Smith and Shanise Bultron the first combination of buckets the Hawks were able to string together. After trading points over the next minute, New Hampshire used eight straight points from Beliveau, broken up only by a layup from Smith to take a 29-16 advantage with 5:53 remaining before the break.
Hartford answered with another bucket from Smith, but a three pointer from Cari Reed would provide the largest lead of the half, 32-18 with 3:47 remaining before intermission. Hartford responded with a six point run to pull into single digits, but a jumper from Reed with 1:24 remaining broke up two minutes without a hoop for the Wildcats. Amber Bepko would provide the final points of the half on a pair of free throws with 52 second remaining as they pulled Hartford with eight at the break, 34-26.
Coming out of the break, the Hawks would get on the board first with a layup from Bepko after a defensive stop on the opening possession. New Hampshire wasn't going to go lightly as Beliveau answered that with a three pointer 19 seconds later.
Following a jumper from Smith with 18:17 on the clock, the Wildcats would score six straight to retake a double digit lead 43-30 with 15:07 remaining in the game. New Hampshire would keep the double digit advantage for nearly 10 minutes as the Hawks managed to cut the lead into single digits on just one occasion following a three pointer from Bultron with 6:44 remaining. That bucket cut the Wildcats lead to 52-43.
The Hawks would be held to just two points, on a pair of free throws form Doherty, for the remainder of the game. That drought allowed New Hampshire to close out the game on a 12-2 run, which included the final seven points of the game.
The Hawks will return home for their third conference game in the opening week of league play as they welcome the Vermont Catamounts to West Hartford for a 2:00 p.m. game on Saturday afternoon at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion.
