PHOTO GALLERY

HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford women's basketball team dropped its season opener to the 2013 National Champion UConn Huskies 89-34 on Saturday afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. The Hawks were led by freshman point guard Deanna Mayza who finished with eight points and four rebounds.

Mayza was one of three freshmen in the starting lineup for 15th year head coach Jennifer Rizzotti's Hawks. She was joined by posts Alyssa Reaves and La'Trice Hall who finished with six and four points, respectively. Also among the scoring leaders was sophomore Katelyn Skinner who came off the bench and sank her first two three point attempts, closing out the contest with a six points.

"I think they were pretty fired up," Rizzotti said on starting three freshmen. ""It came down to just making sure that we were doing what was right for this game and we decided at the end of the week that we needed to go with rebounding. Milana [Gilbert], Alyssa Reaves and La'Trice [Hall] have been our best rebounders in practice and in the preseason and I felt like Deanna [Mayza] has been our best point guard."

Hartford finished the game shooting 27.3 percent overall, making 12-of-44 attempts. The Hawks also connected on four of their 21 three point attempts and finished 6-of-8 at the free throw line, led by Mayza's 3-for-4 effort.

UConn finished the game with a 35-22 advantage on the boards with Hall and Mayza leading Hartford's rebounding efforts with five and four, respectively. Milana Gilbert finished with three rebounds to go along with two points, an assist and a block.

Hartford came out of the gates making their first three baskets of the game with Reaves sinking the first two layup opportunities she had as a Hawk. Following a layup from the Huskies Stefanie Dolson, junior guard Amber Bepko drained her first attempt of the night, a three pointer cutting the Huskies lead to 9-7.

UConn responded by scoring the next 18 points before senior captain Alyssa Englert broke the Huskies momentum with a jumper at 9:48. That bucket cut UConn's lead to 27-9. Hartford took a 55-17 deficit into the locker room at the break, led by Reaves who finished the first 20 minutes with six points.

The Huskies came out of the break scoring the first eight points of the half before Reaves provided Hartford first points of the stanza on a jump shot with 17:04 remaining. After a jump shot, the first bucket of the year, for Mayza, Hartford's next two baskets came as three pointers from Skinner, providing a spark off the bench.

Hartford then used a series of seven points, over a nine point overall stretch, to pull the deficit to 80-34 with 5:33 remaining. The first basket in the Hawks rally was a three pointer from Mayza, with Hall scoring the next four on back-to-back layups, the latter a second-chance opportunity. UConn responded to that rally by closing out the game scoring the final seven points of the game, the last five from Tierney Lawlor.

A three-game, season-opening road stretch continues for the Hawks as they travel to Baltimore, Md. for the first of two trips to the Old Line State. Hartford will meet the Loyola Greyhounds in a rematch of the 2012-13 season opener (64-50 Hartford win). The Hawks and Greyhounds are scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip off on Thursday, November 14 at Reitz Arena.