Box Score
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – All five starters and one player off the bench finished in double figures as the University of Hartford women's basketball team scored their second largest victory of the season defeating the UMass Lowell River Hawks 80-64 on Wednesday at the Chase Family Arena. With the victory, Hartford improves to 10-16 for the season and 7-6 with three regular season contests remaining in the America East.
Junior guard Amber Bepko led all six of the Hawks leading scorers with 18 points, her fifth straight game in double figures and 12th overall. The 18 points is one shy of tying her season high. She finished the game shooting 7-of-15 from the field including a pair of three pointers and grabbed seven rebounds.
Joining her in double figures was Alyssa Englert with 14, Deanna Mayza with 12, Shanise Bultron with 11 and Alyssa Reaves and Morgan Lumb who each finished with 10. Reaves led all the leading scorers with her 5-of-6 shooting performance, while as a team Hartford finished the game shooting 47 percent (31-of-66). After leading by five at the break, the Hawks capitalized in the second half scoring a season-best 53 points and shooting 57 percent from the field (20-of-35).
Hartford also won the battle of the boards pulling down a season-high 54 rebounds with the River Hawks grabbing 36. Leading the Hawks was Cherelle Moore who finished with nine rebounds, adding five points to her credit. Reaves and Mayza each pulled down eight rebounds while Bepko's second round out the leaders. The Hawks also finished with 23 assists led by a pair of players who dished out six helpers; Mayza and Moore.
After the River Hawks opened the game scoring right off the opening tip, Hartford rattled off the next seven points to take a five point lead under three minutes into the contest. Lumb would lead Hartford in her return to the starting lineup, scoring five of those first seven points including a three pointer to open Hartford's offense.
The Hawks would hold onto that lead for the next six minutes before the Rivers Hawks used a stretch of 6-1 to take a 12-10 lead. After a pair of ties at 12 and 14, the Hawks began another rally, this time a 12-2 run that resulted in the Hawks largest lead in the opening half 24-16 with 3:47 remaining. The River Hawks then closed out the half with six of the final nine points in the half, leading to a 27-22 lead for Hartford at the break.
Coming out of the intermission, the River Hawks kept things close through the first five minutes, including taking their final lead at 34-33 using back-to-back layups from Shannon Samuels and Melissa Frase.
That lead would be short lived as a three pointer from Bultron erased the advantage and began a 7-2 rally that resulted in a 40-36 lead with 13:37 remaining. After a jump shot from Lindsey Doucette pulled UMass Lowell within four, the Hawks offense lit up and rattled off 5 unanswered points to take the largest lead of the game at 61-42. The rally began with back-to-back buckets from Englert who finished with eight of the 15 points.
The River Hawks would try and rally but get no closer than 11 points in the final eight minutes, that coming courtesy of a three pointer from Samuels with 3:53 remaining. Hartford answered that triple with another rally that ended in a 76-58 Hartford lead with 1:53 to play.
The Hawks complete a two-game home stand on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the UMBC Retrievers to the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion for the annual Pink in the Paint game. All fans in attendance will receive a free lunch bag cooler. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. with all the action available live on the America East Digital Network at AmericaEast.TV.
