THE BASICS:
 
RESULT: Hartford 70, UAlbany 55
RECORDS: Hartford (9-5, 1-0 AE); UAlbany (11-3 0-1 AE)
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
PHOTO GALLERY
 
THE LEAD:
 
The University of Hartford women's basketball team started the New Year and the America East Conference slate with a bang, downing six-time defending league champion UAlbany, 70-55, on Wednesday night. Freshman Jade Young scored a career-high 23 points to pace the Hawks, who snapped a 14-game skid against the Great Danes with the win.

Tiana-Jo Carter finished with 12 points to lead UAlbany, which brought a seven-game winning streak and a No. 19 ranking in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll into the contest.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• Scoring the first seven points of the game and jumping out to a 10-2 lead, Hartford used an intense effort on the defensive end to continue to build on its early advantage. Twelve of the Hawks' first 20 points of the game came off of eight Great Danes' miscues and, with less than a minute left in the opening quarter, freshman Brielle Wilborn pushed the lead into double figures for the first time at 20-10 with a layup.
• The Hawks, who would not relinquish that double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, posted another hot start in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Fueled by six points from senior Darby Lee, Hartford opened the stanza with a 14-4 run to go up by 22 points (33-16) with 4:08 to go before halftime.
• One final push before the break — an 8-4 spurt that included four makes from the free-throw line — gave Hartford its largest halftime lead of the season (24 points) at 46-22.
• Momentum shifted in favor of UAlbany in the opening part of the third quarter. The Great Danes came out of the gates on fire, scoring 16 of the first 18 points to close the gap to 10 (48-38) with 4:48 remaining. All but six of those points came from Carter, who went 5-of-6 from the field during that stretch.
• A Lindsey Abed layup stopped the Great Danes' run and brought the Hawks back to life, as they ended the quarter with a 9-2 run to push the lead back to 57-40.
• After being held to an 0-for-16 start from long range, UAlbany started to heat up in the fourth quarter. The Great Danes converted on a trio of threes during that stretch to pull within 13 at 66-53 in the final minutes, but they were unable to come any closer.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE & NOTES:

• Behind Young's 23 points, Abed led three other Hawks in double figures with 15. Harrison (13) and Lee (12) rounded out Hartford's top scorers.
• Young, the reigning Rookie of the Week, had a solid all-around performance. She stuffed the stat sheet with team-bests in rebounds (8), assists (4) and steals (4).
• All but one player that checked into the game recorded at least one steal, as the Hawks came away with 18 swipes. Lee joined Young with a team-best four on the night.
• Held without a three-pointer until the 6:45 mark of the final quarter, the Great Danes shot just 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from behind the arc on the night.
• The Hawks forced UAlbany into 27 turnovers and scored 32 points off of those miscues.
• Hartford has won six of its last seven, and each of its last five games at Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion.

 
NEXT ON TAP:
The Hawks open a three-game road trip on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip at Stony Brook. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.