THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 55, Lafayette 50
RECORDS: Hartford (3-1); Lafayette (0-4)
LOCATION: Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 802

THE LEAD: Junior Deanna Mayza was key in crunch time yet again, as she scored six points in the final minute of action to lead the University of Hartford women's basketball team to a 55-50 home win over Lafayette on Sunday afternoon. Mayza, who led all scorers with a season-high 20 points, erased a 50-49 deficit with a jumper with 55.9 seconds left to play before cushioning the Hawks' lead with a 4-of-4 effort from the free throw line in the final six seconds. Junior Alyssa Reaves grabbed 10 rebounds in the win while freshman Lindsey Abed added eight points, including five in the final quarter. Maia Hood had 16 points for the Leopards in the losing effort.

FIRST HALF:
Hartford got off to a hot start on Sunday, as it made four of its first five field goal attempts to jump out to a 9-0 lead within the game's first three minutes. Four different players contributed to that run, which was sparked by a Darby Lee layup and capped by a jump shot from Reaves. The Leopards started to get their offense going, but the Hawks continued to control the game as they led 19-12 by the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Hawks pushed their lead into double digits using a three-pointer from Katelyn Skinner with 8:51 left. But that 22-12 advantage was short-lived, as the game got sloppy for Hartford. Turning the ball over on back-to-back possessions, and three times within a 2:20 stretch, the Hawks allowed the Leopards to get back in the game. With all three of those miscues turning into easy fast break points for Jamie O'Hare, the Hawks saw their lead quickly dwindle down to two points (22-20) with 5:26 left.

Lafayette would never gain a lead in the first-half, though. The Hawks got it together before the halftime intermission, as they ripped-off a half-ending, 8-0 run to regain a double-digit lead (30-20) at the break. Sparking that rally, which featured back-to-back buckets from Skinner, was a Mayza jumper with 5:16 to go. Sophomore Janelle Harrison provided the 10-point cushion at the half after coming up with a steal and going coast-to-coast with 94 seconds left.

Mayza and Skinner each had seven points to lead the Hawks at the break.

SECOND HALF:
A cold start went on to cost the Hawks the lead early in the third quarter. Hartford missed its first 10 shots of the period, and Lafayette capitalized as it outscored the Hawks, 14-3, to take a 34-33 edge with 3:26 left. Abed ended Hartford's drought from the floor with a big three-pointer at the 2:53 mark, but the Leopards continued to charge as they rallied for a 7-2 spurt  to take their largest lead of the game (41-38) by the end of the quarter.

The shots start to fall in the final quarter, as the Hawks came back from their deficit and regained their lead. Opening the stanza with a three from Abed to tie up the game at 41-all, the Hawks pushed ahead by a four-point margin on a Reaves layup and a pair of free throws from Mayza. With 2:02 to go, Hartford, which led by four at 49-45, again saw its advantage disappear as Annette Snow converted on a jump shot for her lone points of the game before a triple from Anna Ptasinski made it a one-point Lafayette advantage at 50-49 with 75 seconds to go.

That set the scene for Mayza, who scored the game's final six points to secure the win for the Hawks. Hitting a jumper with 55.9 seconds left, the junior calmly knocked down two from the charity stripe with six ticks remaining on the clock to give the Hawks the 53-50 edge. In the game's closing seconds, Hartford, which had fouls to give, picked up the pressure and forced Lafayette to call a timeout near its bench. The Leopards were out of timeouts, though, and Mayza sealed the game with two more makes from the free throw line.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

·         Hartford held a 37-35 edge on the boards.

·         After shooting 37.9 percent (11-of-29) in the first half, the Hawks were hampered by a cold start from the floor in the second. Overall, Hartford shot 33.3 percent (18-of-54).

·         The Hawks were impressive from the free throw line, making 77.8 percent of their attempts (14-of-18), including a 6-of-8 effort in the final quarter.

·         Hartford visited the free throw line six more times than Lafayette, and shook off its cold shooting from the floor in the third quarter by using the charity stripe to stay in the game.

·         From three-point land, Hartford knocked down 5-of-11 for a 45.5 percent clip; the Leopards also shot 45.5 percent on an identical 5-of-11 effort.

·         Reaves pulled down a team- and season-best 10 rebounds in the win, adding six points, two steals and a pair of assists.

·         Mayza scored 13 of her game-best 20 points in the final two quarters with all but six of those second-half points coming from the free throw line.

·         Overall, Mayza made 11-of-14 from the free throw line.

·         Lafayette held advantages in points in the paint and fast break points (18-6), and had 19 points off of the Hawks' 17 turnovers.

·         The Leopards had two players reach double figures in scoring, led by Maia Hood's 16 points.

NEWS & NOTES:

·         The Hawks evened up the all-time series with Lafayette to 1-1 with Sunday's win.

·         Mayza has scored in double-figures in all but one contest this season and has reached twin figures 31 times during her career.

UP NEXT:                                                                    
The Hawks kick off a two-game road stretch at Providence on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Tipoff from Alumni Hall is scheduled for 12 p.m.