THE BASICS:

RESULT: Arizona State 60, Hartford 29
RECORDS: Hartford (4-6); Arizona State (6-3)
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: TBD

THE LEAD: The University of Hartford women's basketball team battled hard against Arizona State, which moved up three spots to No. 21 in Monday's USA Today Coaches Poll, but the Sun Devils came out of West Hartford on top with a 60-29 decision. The Hawks made a run late in the game, outscoring Arizona State, 14-7, to close their deficit to 53-24 with 6:04 remaining. Junior Deanna Mayza paced all scorers with 14 points, while Katie Hempden led the visitors with 11 points.

FIRST HALF:
Facing a Sun Devils' defense that threw on the pressure, the Hawks got off to a sluggish start, as they missed their first four shots and committed three early turnovers before converting on a field goal. Freshman Mikayla Delcastagne provided that bucket on a three-pointer with 3:41 left in the stanza. At the end of the first, Arizona State led by a slim 9-3 margin. The Sun Devils did start to heat up, though, as they added 14 points to that count in the second quarter to push their lead to 23-6 at the intermission.

SECOND HALF:
Arizona State came out of the halftime break firing. The Sun Devils converted on their first 10 shot attempts of the stanza, turning a half-ending, 5-0 run into 17-unanswered points within the first three minutes. That run put the visitors up by a 30-point margin. Hartford never folded, though, as it continued to battle with the nationally-ranked squad. Over the final 13 minutes of the contest, the Hawks started to find the basket, as a 9-0 run featuring seven points from Mayza and an Alyssa Reaves jumper brought the deficit down to 46-20 with 8:37 left in the fourth. Eighteen of Hartford's points came during that final stretch

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The Hawks' defense shutdown Arizona State's post play, which had been dominant entering the game. The Sun Devils' bigs – a six-player rotation – combined for 23 points.
• The Hawks visited the free throw line five more times than Arizona State, cashing in on 5-of-10 attempts.
• Sophomore Jalay Knowles passed for a career-high in assists, leading the team with three.
• Hartford improved upon an anemic first-half shooting effort in the second. During the final stretch, the Hawks shot 32.0 percent (8-of-25) to finish at 24.4 percent on the night.
• Arizona State also came out of the second half firing, as it went 64.0 percent from the field. The Sun Devils finished just under 50.0 percnet (47.2%).

NEWS & NOTES:

• Mayza's 14 points marks her sixth double-figure scoring game of the season. She leads all Hawks in the category.
• With 291 career assists, Mayza ranks eighth in program history, and needs one more to move up one slot in the record books.
• Monday's contest marked the first meeting between Hartford and Arizona State.
• The game was the Hawks' final non-conference home tilt of the 2015-16 season.

UP NEXT:                                                                     
Hartford has a week-long break for final exams before it returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 22. That contest lands the Hawks in Amherst for a 2 p.m. opening tip against the UMass Minutemen.