THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 75, UMass Lowell 70 (ot)
RECORDS: Hartford (9-13, 5-4 AE); UMass Lowell (3-18, 0-9 AE)
LOCATION: Costello Athletics Center (Lowell, Mass.)
ATTENDANCE: 499

THE LEAD: Sophomore Janelle Harrison netted a career-high 22 points as the University of Hartford women's basketball team prevailed in overtime at UMass Lowell by way of a 75-70 decision. Converting on a clutch three-point play in overtime, Harrison shot 8-for-10 from the floor, including 3-for-3 in the extra session, and led the Hawks with five rebounds, four assists and five steals. Freshman Kelly Douglass also had herself a night, as she came up with a 4-for-4 effort from the free-throw line in the game's final 26.1 seconds to seal the win. She finished with a career-best 16 points behind 4-for-6 shooting long range to help the Hawks complete the series sweep of the River Hawks.

In the losing effort, Lindsey Doucette led all scorers with 28 points. She knocked down a pair of three-pointers and went 12-for-18 from the floor for the River Hawks. For Hartford, junior La'Trice Hall added 12 points while senior Katelyn Skinner went 3-for-5 from behind teh arc to finish with nine points.

FIRST HALF:
Sophomore Darby Lee and Hall combined for all of the Hawks' first quarter points, netting four apiece. With 5:36 left to play in the stanza, Hall drilled a jumper to put Hartford ahead by an 8-6 count. That bucket would be the last field goal either side would seee for quite some time, though. UMass Lowell would be the team to end the drought, as Nicole Hayner knocked down a jumper with 36 seconds left before Asia Mitchell-Owens put her team in front, 11-8, by ending the quarter with a three from the corner.

A dominant start to the second quarter erased Hartford's deficit and put the visiting squad in front for the remaining 6:03 of the session. With the lead changing hands twice within the first 3:12 of the session, the Hawks went on push back ahead thanks to a 9-2 spurt. Fueling that run was Harrison, who came away with a steal and went coast-to-coast for the easy lay-in. Sophomore Mary Pattison added a three-pointer during the stretch before senior Katelyn Skinner knocked down one of her own to give the Hawks their largest lead of the half (6) at 21-15 with 4:16 to go.

But UMass Lowell would pick up the pace offensively before intermission. The River Hawks scored seven of the final 11 points and used a triple at the buzzer by Hayner to close the gap to 25-22 at the end of the first. Leading a well-balanced Hawks' offense was Hall, who had eight points.   

SECOND HALF:
A strong start to the second half saw Hartford take a nine-point lead – its largest of the game – midway through the third quarter. During that opening stretch, the Hawks converted from behind the arc on three occasions, with Skinner accounting for a pair of triples. Her third of the night with 4:45 remaining extended the margin to 41-32. But UMass Lowell, which shot 73.3 percent in the third, ended the stanza on a tear, ripping off a 13-5 rally to close the gap to a single point (46-45) heading into the fourth. Doucette accounted for seven of her team's points in that stretch while Kayla Gibbs made it a one-point game with a layup before the buzzer.

Despite a solid effort from Harrison, who had seven of her career-high 22 points in the final quarter, the Hawks were unable to hold on to their lead. With 2:44 remaining, a Lee free throw put the Hawks ahead, 57-54, but Doucette would knot up the score at 57-all on the next possession with a three-pointer. Following a layup by Harrison that put the lead back in the hands of the Hawks, the River Hawks would claim the advantage on a Gibbs layup followed by a 1-for-2 effort from the line from Doucette.

That lead, UMass Lowell's first since the 6:48 mark of the second quarter, was short-lived, though, as Douglass countered with her fourth three-pointer of the night before Harrison pushed the lead to three at 63-60 with a free-throw. The River Hawks burned their final timeout after that bucket, and Hayner got the game-tying three-ball to fall out of the break with 6.9 seconds to go. Hartford advanced the ball with its final timeout, and Pattison would manage to get a three-pointer off out of a broken play, but that shot rimmed in and out to force overtime.
 
OVERTIME:
Harrison continued to dominate in the overtime session, as she scored her teams' first seven points to help the Hawks build a 70-65 edge with 46.1 ticks left. But UMass Lowell refused to go down without a fight. With 33 seconds left, Doucette made it a one-possession game at 70-68 with an old-fashioned three-point play. Seven seconds later, Douglass increased Hartford's lead to four on a pair of free-throws before Frase closed the gap to 72-70 with a layup out of a timeout on the next possession with 19.7 seconds to go. With the River Hawks forced to foul, Hall pushed the lead back to three by converting on 1-of-2 from the line with 17.7 seconds remaining. Following a misfire from three-point land on the potential game-tying shot by Doucette, Douglass calmly iced the game from the free-throw line, where she went 2-for-2 with seven seconds remaining to provide the final score of 75-70.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The pressure was on defensively for Hartford in the first half, as it forced UMass Lowell into 13 turnovers while committing just five of its own.
• Nine of the Hawks' 24 first-half points came off of those River Hawks' miscues; Harrison, who had two steals in the half, scored all four of her first-half points off fast break points.
• The Hawks committed just 10 turnovers on the night, including six in the first three quarters.
• Defensively, Hartford forced 22 River Hawks' turnovers and scored 17 points off of those miscues.
• Harrison scored 18 of her team-best 22 points in the second half and overtime combined, including seven in the extra session.
• Both teams shot well in the second half, but UMass Lowell bettered Hartford's 50.0 percent effort (11-22) by shooting an impressive 72.0 percent (18-25). Included in the River Hawks' second-half clip was a 4-for-5 performance from long range.
• Hartford's 75 points marked a season-best offensive output.
• Harrison and Douglass each recorded career-highs with 22 and 16 points, respectively. Harrison added five steals, a career-high.
• Douglass knocked down 4-for-5 from three-point land and turned in a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the charity stripe.

NEWS & NOTES:

• Taking the regular-season series with the overtime win, the Hawks improve to 5-1 against the River Hawks.
• Hartford improves to 1-1 in games needing overtime this season. Back in November, the Hawks dropped a 71-69 decision at Quinnipiac.
• With the win, head coach Jen Rizzotti improves her career coaching record to 314-210.

UP NEXT:                                                                                                                              
The Hawks return home for a Monday night clash against the Stony Brook Seawolves. Hartford will be looking to avenge last month's 58-35 setback suffered on Long Island in the two teams' first meeting. Tipoff from Reich Family Pavilion is scheduled for 7 p.m.