THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 68, Sacred Heart 67
RECORDS: Hartford (2-0); Sacred Heart (0-1)
LOCATION: William H. Pitt Center (Fairfield, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 312

THE LEAD: A big layup with 56 seconds left followed by four clutch free throws from junior guard Deanna Mayza in the final 15 seconds of the fourth quarter iced the game and led the University of Hartford women's basketball team to a 68-67 victory at Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon. Mayza, who paced the team in scoring for the second time this season, scored 10 of her 19 points in the final stanza to help the Hawks fight off a Pioneers' comeback bid and hold on for the win. Classmate La'Trice Hall recorded her first double-double in the win with career-highs in points (13) and rebounds (10), while Alyssa Reaves rounded out Hartford's top scorers with 13 points. Hannah Kimmel scored 21 points and grabbed 10 boards for Sacred Heart in the losing effort.

FIRST HALF:
Sacred Heart struck first with a layup, but Hartford countered that game-opening bucket by stringing together nine unanswered points on a perfect 4-of-4 effort from the floor. Four different players contributed to that run, which was sparked by a Reaves jumper at 9:25 and capped by a Hall 10-footer with 6:55 to go. Lee and Abed also contributed to the offense with a jump shot and a three-pointer, respectively.

Momentum shifted midway through the stanza, though, as the Hawks went cold and missed 2 of their next 11 shots. The Pioneers used a 9-0 run of their own to regain a two-point edge at 11-9 with 3:02 remaining. That spurt, which was capped by a Kelcey Castro bucket, also had four different scorers. The Hawks would again push ahead on layups from Reaves and Mayza, but the Pioneers gained the advantage before the end of the quarter using a 3-of-4 performance from the charity stripe.      

The lead continued to change hands in the second quarter, as a Katelyn Skinner triple put the Hawks ahead, 16-14, with 9:13 to go, before a 6-2 Pioneers' spurt made it 22-18 at the 4:54 mark. The squads would exchange buckets for the remaining four minutes, but it was Hartford who held the one-point edge at the break (28-27) thanks to five points from Mayza on a triple and a pair of free throws. 

SECOND HALF:

The Hawks held on to their advantage early in the third, until the Pioneers started to heat up from long range. Three three-pointers within a two minute stretch erased Hartford's five-point lead and put Sacred Heart in front by a 42-38 count. With 3:55 remaining, senior Katelyn Skinner put an end to the run with a three of her own, to spark what turned into an 8-0 counter for Hartford. That put the Hawks back in front, 46-42, before the Pioneers closed the gap to a point (47-46) at the end of the quarter. Reaves had nine of her 13 points during that stretch.

The start of the fourth quarter was a hot one for Hartford, as it opened up the session with a 10-2 run to balloon its lead to nine at 57-48 midway through. Sacred Heart refused to go down easy, though, as it clawed its way back into the game and closed the gap to five points (62-57) with less than two minutes to go. With 56.0 seconds left, Mayza pushed the edge back to seven points with a layup, but that unfortunately would not be the icing on the cake for Hartford.

A five-point swing quickly cut Hartford's lead to two at 64-62. Adaysha Williams dialed in from deep for a three with 38 ticks remaining before Shelby Hickey came away with a steal on the ensuing layup and converted for a layup just two seconds later. With 15.4 seconds left, Mayza drew a foul and calmly sank two free throws to make it a 66-62 Hawks' lead, but the Pioneers again had an answer as they made it a single possession game with a layup with 6.4 left on the clock. In the closing seconds, Mayza made pushed the lead back to four with two more makes from the free throw line to make Williams' banked three-pointer at the buzzer meaningless.         

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

·         Hall logged career-highs in both points (13) and rebounds (10) for her first career double-double, and the first for a Hawk this season.

·         Two other Hawks also finished in double-figures as Mayza netted a team-best 19 points while Reaves chipped-in with 13 points.

·         The Hawks shot 51.7 percent in the second half (15-of-29) to finish at 41.9 percent on the afternoon.

·         Sacred Heart went 41.7 percent from the field, making 25-of-60 of its shots

·         Mayza handed out a game-best six assists and went a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe, including 4-of-4 to ice the game in the final 15 seconds.

·         The hustle points belonged to Hartford as it held an 18-9 advantage in second-chance buckets.

·         The Hawks' bench contributed 13 points and held the Pioneers' pine to just six points..

NEWS & NOTES:

·         Hartford improves to 8-1 against the Pioneers.

·         Head coach Jen Rizzotti, who earned her first career win in November, 1999 in her first game against Sacred Heart, has never lost to the Pioneers (7-0).

·         Mayza has scored in double-figures in each of her last three games and has paced the Hawks in scoring in both of her team's games this year.

UP NEXT:                                                                    
The Hawks have another instate opponent on the docket as they are set to battle at Quinnipiac on Thursday, Nov. 19. Tipoff from TD Bank Sports Center is scheduled for 11 a.m.