THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 48, New Hampshire 44
RECORDS: Hartford (8-11, 4-2 AE), UNH (7-12, 1-5 AE)
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 1,091

THE LEAD: The University of Hartford women's basketball team grabbed a 48-44 victory over the visiting New Hampshire Wildcats on Sunday afternoon behind an impressive offensive performance from sophomore Darby Lee. A forward, Lee had the hot hand for the Hawks, as she dropped a personal-best 23 points on the Wildcats after shooting a sizzling 81.8 percent from the floor on a 9-for-11 effort. Classmate Janelle Harrison added nine points and nine boards for Hartford, while Elizabeth Belanger paced New Hampshire with a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds.

FIRST HALF:
Lee was feeling it early for the Hawks, as she opened up the game by scoring four of her team's first six points within the first three minutes of action. Hartford continued to build on that advantage, as senior Katelyn Skinner's three-pointer provided the home team with the 9-4 edge with 1:30 to go. The Wildcats would close the gap to one in the final minute on a Kristen Anderson three-pointer, but Lee stretched the lead back to four (11-7) with her sixth point of the stanza with 20 seconds left.

New Hampshire quickly improved upon its struggling offense in the opening minutes of the second quarter. The Wildcats reeled off 10 unanswered points in the first 3:20 of the stanza, with Belanger contributing five points to that spurt. After Belanger converted from long range 11 seconds in to the quarter to start the rally, Aliza Simpson gave her team its first lead of the game (13-11) with the Wildcats' second-straight triple just 42 seconds later. Facing a six-point deficit on three occasions, Hartford ended the half with five-straight points to pull within one point (25-24) at the break.

Lee, who went 6-for-7 to open up the game, led all scorers at the break with 14 points.

SECOND HALF:
A cold shooting effort out of the intermission by Hartford allowed UNH to hold on to its lead for the majority of the quarter. The Hawks, who shot just 16.7 percent in the third to the Wildcats' 50.0 percent, found themselves trailing by a 37-34 margin heading into the fourth.

Hartford would turn things around in the fourth, though, as it went on to dominate the stanza. Lee put the quarter's first points on the scoreboard and closed the gap to 37-36 on a pair of free throws with 6:26 left before she ended a Hartford field goal drought that spanned nearly nine minutes with a jumper 36 seconds later. That bucket provided the Hawks with a 38-37 advantage, a lead they would not relinquish down the stretch.

With 4:38 left, Mary Pattison, a sophomore, extended the lead to 41-37 with her first field goal of the year – a three-pointer. UNH would remain within striking distance, as it was a single-possession game with 40.7 seconds to go thanks to a three from Belanger, her second of the night. Down the stretch, freshman Lindsey Abed was sent to the line with her team clinging on to a 45-44 advantage with 39 seconds left. Calmly hitting both free-throws to make it a 47-44 Hartford lead, Belanger was off the mark on a three-pointer from the top of the key. After Janelle Harrison grabbed the huge defensive rebound off the miss, Lee sealed the game from the charity stripe with 11 seconds left, making the tailend of two free-throws.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Lee was unstoppable in the first half. Making 6-of-7 from the floor, she led all scorers with 14 points at the break, adding two boards and an assist.
• Lee went on to convert on nine of her first 10 field goal attempts and finished the game 9-for-11 for an impressive 81.8 percent effort. No other Hawk has put together a better effort from the floor this season.
• Turnovers were a big key to the Hawks' success on Sunday. Hartford forced a season-best 23 New Hampshire turnovers, and scored nearly half of its points (22) off of those miscues.
• On the other end, Hartford took care of the ball as it threw the ball away just 10 times.
• UNH shot the ball well, finishing 40.0 percent (18-for-45), including 44.4 percent from three (4-for-9). In the first half, the Wildcats converted on 47.8 percent of their shots and went 3-for-4 from three-point land.
• The Hawks went 31.4 percent from the field (16-for-51), going 18.2 percent (2-for-11) from long range.

NEWS & NOTES:

• The Hawks have won two-straight, and three of their last four.
• Lee's career-high 23 points marks the most points scored by a Hawk this season. Junior Deanna Mayza, who has missed the last three contests with a shoulder injury, previously held the best offensive performance of the season with 20 points in a win over Lafayette.
• Lee has netted double figures in each of her last three outings as she is averaging 16.7 points per game during that stretch. She is currently averaging 12.0 points on 53.6 percent shooting since the start of America East action.
• Hartford improves to 33-32 in the all-time series against New Hampshire and has won the last two games.
• The victory was the 313th for head coach Jen Rizzotti.

UP NEXT:                                                                                                                              
Hartford's next contest pits the team on the road as it heads to Maine for a Wednesday night tilt against the Black Bears. Tipoff from the Cross Insurance Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.