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West Hartford, Conn. – It was a record setting night inside The Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion as the Hartford women's basketball team scored a 64-46 victory over New Hampshire to score head coach Jennifer Rizzotti's 250th career victory. Hartford was led by junior Alex Hall who chipped in a career-high 22 points, while rookie Amber Bepko tied a school record with eight steals.
Bepko joins a pair of Hawks in grabbing eight steals in a game as Lana Thomas (1990-93) and Candace Ward (1991-96) each picked off eight steals twice in their careers. However, Bepko does become the youngest of the trio to record eight steals.
Hall's 22 points led all scorers in the game and surpasses her previous career-high of 21 that she set on two other occasions, including once this season against Boston University (Jan. 22). Hall finished the game shooting 6-of-13 overall, while connecting on 4-of-9 from beyond the arc and making a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. She was joined in double figures by fell classmate Ruthanne Doherty who finished with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
The Hawks finished the game shooting 33.9 percent overall, improving their first half 25 percent (8-of-32) effort to a 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) performance in the second half. Included in that is a 6-of-18 showing from beyond the arc, while the Hawks made 18-of-23 free throw attempts, with Nikkia Smith also going perfect at the line in six attempts.
New Hampshire did take the battle of the boards by a 43-39 margin with junior transfer Morgan Frame leading all players with 12 rebounds. Frame also led New Hampshire with 13 points completing the double double. Doherty led Hartford in the rebounding category with nine boards, while all nine of the Hawks who saw time finished with at least one rebound.
Defensively, the Hawks finished with a total of 17 steals, forcing the Wildcats into 22 turnovers. The 17 team steals ties the season high which was set against Dartmouth on the road. The Hawks turned New Hampshire's 22 turnovers into 24 points, while the visiting team scored just eight points off of the Hawks 13 turnovers.
New Hampshire came out of the gates and scored the first points of the game after nearly two minutes came off the clock. Frame would provide the first offense on a layup off an assist from Kelsey Hogan with 18:10 remaining in the first half. Hartford's first bucket would also come on an in the paint layup, with Doherty netting the points.
New Hampshire would manage to build a four point advantage after an old fashioned three point play for Frame gave the Wildcats a 7-3 lead with 13:53 to play in the half. The Hawks would then score the next seven points. Hall would score the first points in that run, including a three pointer with 8:37 remaining before the break that gave the Hawks their first lead and provide the only lead change necessary as the Hawks wouldn't relinquish that advantage.
After another layup for Frame cut the lead to one, 12-11, with 5:04 on the clock, Hartford scored the next five points to build its largest lead of the half on a three pointer from Daphne Elliott which led to a 17-11 advantage.
A three pointer from Hogan with 2:04 remaining in the half would cut the Hawks lead to three points, but the final point of the half would come from the Hawks by way of a free throw from Bepko with 1:00 to play. Bepko's free throw provided the halftime margin of 20-16 with Frame leading all players in the half with seven points, while Elliott and Hall led the Hawks with 10 each.
New Hampshire came out of the break and looked to be a challenge for Hartford cutting the Hawks lead to one twice, the first on a three pointer from Denise Beliveau and then again on a layup from Hogan with less than 1:30 off the clock in the half.
Hall then single handedly responded to that second bucket with five straight points on a jump shot and a three pointer, extending the Hawks lead back to six in 64 seconds. After a layup from Beliveau cut the Hawks lead back to four, Hartford scored eight of the next 10 points to grow their first double digit lead of the game with 12:28 remaining on the clock on a pair of free throws from Smith.
Hall would strike again from long range with 8:24 remaining in the game to put the Hawks lead up to 14, the largest to that point, 46-32. She would again make it a 14 point game on a pair of free throws with 6:08 remaining, but the Wildcats would quickly cut that lead back into single digits, with five straight points all coming from Cari Reed. New Hampshire would manage to pull as close as seven points with 2:30 remaining on the game, that coming on a pair of free throws from Beliveau.
Alyssa Englert answered those two free throws from Beliveau with her first and only basket of the game, a three pointer with 2:07 remaining, extending the lead back into double figures. The Hawks would then need to capitalize at the free throw line and they did, going 10-of-12, including four straight from Hall to give the Hawks a 61-46 advantage. Hall would then be forced to heave a shot at the end of the shot clock which counted from outside the arc and provided the final margin of victory 64-46 in favor of the home team.
Hartford returns to the hardwood on Sunday when they take on the Vermont Wildcats in Burlington. For the third straight game, the Hawks will be looking to avenge an earlier loss against Vermont as the Catamounts erased a 15 point lead at the half to win by seven in West Hartford. Hartford and Vermont are scheduled to tip at 1:00 p.m.
