THE BASICS:

RESULT: Quinnipiac 71, Hartford 69 ot
RECORDS: Hartford (2-1); Quinnipiac (1-1)
LOCATION: TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 1,329

THE LEAD: The University of Hartford women's basketball team battled back from deficits late in regulation and again in overtime, but a Quinnipiac layup from Aryn McClure with 14.4 seconds remaining in the extra session proved to be the difference as the Hawks were bested for the first time in 2015-16 by way of a 71-69 defeat. In the contest's final seconds, sophomore Janelle Harrison, who netted a career-high 15 points, couldn't get her layup to fall and Hartford, which grabbed the offensive board, was unable to muster-up the game tying score as time expired. Joining Harrison in double figures was junior Darby Lee and rookie Lindsey Abed, who each put up career-highs with 17 and 10 points, respectively. Morgan Manz paced the Bobcats with 15 points while McClure recorded a double-double on 10 points and 10 rebounds.

FIRST HALF:
Quinnipiac lived from three-point land during the opening quarter, as all but five of their first 19 shot attempts came from long range. The home squad converted on five of those attempts - all in the final 5:43 of the stanza - to build an eight-point lead at 19-11 by the end of the first. The Bobcats continued to build on that lead in the second quarter as they stretched their advantage into double digits just over three minutes in. Another three-pointer, Manz's second of the half, expanded the lead to 23-13 with 6:53 left on the clock. A Harrison 1-of-2 effort from the line followed by a Jalay Knowles put back would close the gap to seven for Hartford, but Quinnipiac converted again from deep and took its largest lead of the half at 11 (29-18) on an Adily Strautmane triple with 4:14 left.

Before the halftime break, Hartford picked up the pace and got hot. An 8-0 run, fueled by three-straight points by Skinner, a Mallory Shickora triple and a layup from Lee, brought the Hawks' deficit down to single digits. The Hawks went on to end the half with a 10-4 run and entered the break trailing by six points at 34-28. Lee, who drew a huge charge on the defensive end which led to her layup, led Hartford's scorers at the half with six points.

SECOND HALF:
The Hawks were unable to carry their momentum from the end of the first half into the start of the second. Quinnipiac pushed its lead to 12 before the end of the third quarter before it took its largest advantage of the contest (14) at 54-42 on a pair of McClure free throws to open the fourth.

The Hawks refused to go down easily, though, as they clawed at their deficit throughout the final quarter. Lee converted on an old-fashioned three-point play with 6:51 remaining to spark a 10-3 run that closed the gap down to six (57-51) with 5:13 to go. Facing an eight-point deficit at 60-52 with 3:51 remaining, Hartford finally completed the comeback as it wheeled off eight unanswered points to tie up the contest at 60-all with 65 seconds left. Three different players contributed to that spurt, as Mayza sparked and capped off the rally with a jumper and a pair of free throws. Harrison also contrubted a key layup during that stretch after coming up with a key steal in the back court at the 1:20 mark.

Desperate for a stop on the defensive end, Skinner provided the answer for Hartford as she came away with a clutch steal on a missed three-pointer and a Quinnipiac offensive board. That theft set up the Hawks with one last chance to net the game-winner, but Abed's baseline jumper rimmed in-and-out to force overtime.

OVERTIME:
Lee continued her scoring spree by opening overtime with a layup just nine seconds out of the tip, but the Bobcats answered that bucket with a 9-0 run. Sparking that rally was Ally Martucci, who ended Quinnipiac's drought (0-for-8) from three-point land with a make from long range. Back-to-back buckets from Morgan Manz would push the lead to five with 3:26 left before Martucci capitalized on a Hawk turnover to make it a 69-62 Quinnipiac advantage with 3:07 left on the clock.

But just like in the fourth quarter, Hartford mounted another comeback, and within a span of 71 seconds, the score was tied up again, this time at 69-all. A 7-0 run thanks to a Skinner three-pointer sandwiched between layups from Harrison made it a brand new ball game with 1:35 left to play. On the other end, McClure drew the foul and made the bucket through contact, but missed the ensuing free throw to put the Bobcats ahead by two with 15 seconds left. Snagging the rebound on the miss, Hartford advanced the ball to half court using its final timeout, but out of the set play, Harrison was unable to get her layup to fall with five seconds left. The Hawks came up with another rebound on the miss, but were unable to produce a shot as the final horn sounded.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

·         Hartford improved upon a 36.4 percent effort from the floor in the first half (12-of-33) by going 40.7 percent (11-of-27) in the second and 50.0 percent (4-of-8) in overtime.

·         Overall, Hartford shot 39.7 percent (26-of-68) from the floor, but was hampered by a 4-of-15 effort from three-point land (26.7 percent).

·         The Hawks capitalized from the free throw line, making 11-of-15 attempts for 73.3 percent. In 16 attempts, the Bobcats made just nine (56.3 percent).

·         In addition to netting a career-high 17 points, Lee, who had a hot hand with 7-of-8 shooting from the floor and a 3-of-3 effort from the free throw line, added a personal-best in rebounding with eight.

·         Two other Hawks also notched double-figures in scoring as Abed and Harrison registered 10 and 15 points, respectively. Those numbers are career-highs for both players. Skinner added nine points, a career-best for the junior.

·         After conceding seven three-pointers to the Bobcats in the first half, the Hawks held the Bobcats to just one triple in the second half and overtime. That lone make, which came from Martucci, triggered Quinnipiac's 9-0, overtime run.

·         Both teams cashed in on turnovers, as the Hawks scored 20 points off the Bobcats' 19 turnovers; Quinnipiac forced 21 turnovers, scoring 21 points off of those miscues.

NEWS & NOTES:

·         Thursday was Hartford's first OT game since a 63-62 defeat of Maine in the semifinals of the 2014 America East Championships (Mar. 7).

·         The Hawks have dropped their last three contests to Quinnipiac, previously falling to the Bobcats in 2013 and 2014.

UP NEXT:                                                                    
Hartford hosts Lafayette on Sunday, Nov. 22. Opening tip from Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion is scheduled for 2 p.m. This will mark the second meeting between the two squads as the Leopards topped the Hawks by a 74-59 final in Easton, Pa., a year ago.