Box Score BALTIMORE, Md. – The University of Hartford women's basketball team had five players score in double figures on Saturday afternoon as they took down UMBC, 65-55, at RAC Arena in America East action. Junior Cherelle Moore netted a game-best 16 points as the Hawks improve to 4-3 in the conference with their third-straight win and 7-13 overall.

Thirteen of Moore's points came in the second half, helping Hartford maintain its halftime throughout the remainder of the game. The Hawks led by as many as seven in the final half and never trailed despite UMBC tying up the game at 47-all with just over five minutes to play.

Freshman Deana Mayza added 11 points while classmate Alyssa Reaves, junior Amber Bepko and senior Alyssa Englert contributed 10 points apiece. The Hawks improved upon a cold 24.0 percent effort from the field in the first and went 48.1 percent in the second, including 4-of-10 (40.0%) from long range.

UMBC had four scorers finish in double figures, led by 12 points on a 4-of-9 effort and three three-pointers from Emily Russo. Sara Tarbert had nine rebounds for the Retrievers in an even battle of the boards.

Hartford shook off a cold start before the end of the first half, wheeling-off a 14-8 spurt to take a 21-16 lead into the break.

The cold shooting plagued both teams to start as the Hawks and Retrievers each made their first field goal attempts but combined to miss the next 16 as the score remained deadlocked at 2-2 for over five minutes.

The lid remained on the rim for awhile for the Hawks as they went 1-of-16 from the floor before heating up. With Hartford holding a slight 7-6 edge thanks to all six of Mayza's first-half points and an Reaves free throw, the Hawks used a 7-0 run to push ahead by six (14-8) with just under five minutes left.

Moore and Reaves sparked that rally, knocking down back-to-back jumpers before Englert topped things off with her team's first three-pointer of the game out of a UMBC timeout.

After allowing UMBC to close the gap to one on a layup from Sara Tarbert and a trey from Janelle Saling, the Hawks matched their largest lead of the half (6) following a 5-0 spurt to push ahead, 19-13, with 66 seconds until halftime.

An old-fashion three-point play by the Retrievers with 46.2 seconds left on the clock cut the Hawks' lead down to three, but the visiting squad pushed their advantage back up to five before the break using a pair of Bepko free throws.

Mayza's six points led the Hawks at halftime while Bridget O'Donnell had four points for UMBC in the game's first 20 minutes.

In the second, Hartford expanded its 31-29 edge to seven as Moore knocked down another jumper and Bepko followed suit with her first of two triples. With the Hawks leading , 41-34, with 13:02 remaining, the Retrievers went to work and made a run, closing the gap to one on an 8-2 rally before knotting up the contest at 45-45 at 7:48.

Hartford answered back, though, scoring eight of the next 12 points to go ahead by five with 2:26 left. An Englert layup before the shot clock expired proved to be the dagger as it provided the Hawks with a 54-49 lead heading into the final two minutes.

The Hawks closed the game out with an 11-2 run, making 4-of-5 from the charity stripe to end the afternoon.

Hartford held UMBC under 40.0 percent shooting on the contest (39.6%), including a cold 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three point territory.

Hartford closes out the month of January with another road game as it heads to Vermont to take on the Catamounts on Wed., Jan. 29. Tip-off from Patrick Gymnasium is slated for 7 p.m.