BOX SCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
West Hartford, Conn. – Behind 20-point performances from junior's Nikkia Smith and Daphne Elliott the Hawks scored their fifth-straight victory 67-58 over the Binghamton Bearcats on Saturday afternoon at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Hartford improved to 16-10 overall in 2011-12 and now stands at 7-5 in the America East Conference.
Both Smith and Elliott finished one point shy of tying their career high with Smith leading all players in the game with 24 points, while Elliott added 20. Elliott scored 15 of her 20 points in the second half after finishing just 1-of-7 from the field in the first 20 minutes. Her only field goal of the half came at the buzzer on a long three pointer that banked off the back board. That three pointer sparked a 5-of-6 performance in the second stanza for Elliott. For the game, Elliott was 6-of-13, including 5-of-9 from long range.
Smith led the Hawks shooting efforts on 8-of-13 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Overall, Hartford finished the game shooting 40.7 percent from the floor (24-of-59), including just shy of 50 percent in the second half on 15-of-31. Joining Elliott and Smith in double figures was fellow junior Ruthanne Doherty who finished with 10 points, her fifth straight game in double figures.
The Hawks finished with a 34-30 overall advantage in the rebounding battle with Doherty and freshman Amber Bepko leading the team with seven each. Hartford's defense forced the Bearcats into 18 turnovers, while committing just 11 of their own. The defense amassed 11 steals as a team with Elliott and Smith leading the way with four a piece. Elliott also led the team with three assists, while Doherty matched that output.
The Bearcats finished with a 46.7 percent (21-of-45) shooting performance, including 58.3 percent in the second half on 14-of-24. The visitors also matched that shooting output from beyond the arc where they finished 7-of-15 overall from three point land. Orla O'Reilly led the Bearcats with 16 points.
The Hawks opened the game scoring the first bucket following an opening miss by the Bearcats. Bepko would put the first points on the board off a feed from Elliott. Following Binghamton's first bucket, a layup from Mallory Lawes, the Hawks opened up a 6-2 advantage less than three minutes into the game on back-to-back jump shots from Doherty.
Binghamton answered with six straight points on back-to-back three pointers from O'Reilly and Lawes, which allowed them to take their first lead of the game 8-6 with 16:09 remaining. The Hawks then responded by rattling off five straight, the last three of which came on a three pointer from Bepko, which led to the second lead change of the afternoon.
The Bearcats didn't back down, scoring the next nine points to retake the lead and extend it to their largest of the afternoon 17-11 with 10:17 remaining. Hartford managed the next six points to tie the game for the third time at 17-17, to which Binghamton answered with a three pointer from O'Reilly.
Hartford then closed out the half with 12 of the final 15 points taking a 29-23 advantage into the locker room at the break. That final halftime margin came by way of a five point run to end the stanza, which included Elliott's heroics at the buzzer following up a missed three point attempt for Andrea Holmes.
Hartford came out of the break and scored the first points in the second half on a jump shot from Smith, but the teams would trade buckets for much of the first eight minutes until the Hawks used a 6-0 run to take the game's first double digit lead at 47-36 with 11:18 remaining. All six of those points came by way of three pointers from Elliott, broken up only by a turnover on the Bearcats.
The Hawks lead would grow to as much as 12, the largest of the game, on a third straight three pointer from Elliott, but the Bearcats responded to that deficit by scoring back-to-back three pointers of their own to quickly cut the lead back to six points with 8:32 remaining. Just over two minutes later a jump shot from Alex Hall put the Hawks back ahead by double figures with 6:19 remaining.
Binghamton would manage to cut the lead back to seven twice more before the halftime break, but in both instances the Hawks responded by regaining an 11 point lead.
Hartford will return to action with a visit to Orono, Maine on Wednesday, February 15 as the Hawks will face the Maine Black Bears at 7:00 p.m. at Alfond Arena.
