Box Score
Senior Kelsey Simonds led Stonehill past Saint Anselm with
a season-high matching 28 points to go with eight rebounds, two
assists and a blocked shot.
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Late Push Leads #21 Stonehill
Past
Saint Anselm, 65-52
Simonds powers Skyhawks to
fifth-straight win with season-high 28 points
Boxscore
MANCHESTER, N.H. (December
2, 2009) - Stonehill College, ranked 21st in
this week's USA Today/ESPN/Women's Basketball Coaches Association
(WBCA) Division II poll, used a 15-4 run in the final ten minutes
of regulation to claim its fifth-straight victory with a 65-52
decision over Saint Anselm College in Northeast-10 Conference
women's basketball action tonight at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
Senior center Kelsey
Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) led the way
again for Stonehill, matching her season-high with a game-best 28
points (17 second half) on 9-of-18 shooting from the field,
including 2-for-3 from three-point range, while converting all
eight free-throw attempts on the night to go with a team-high eight
rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot over 33
minutes. It marks her fourth 20-point performance of the season and
third in the Skyhawks last four games.
Junior Emily Rousseau
(Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) added 13 points on 6-of-10
shooting from the floor, six assists, three rebounds and two
steals. Sophomore Tania Williams (South Setauket,
N.Y./Ward-Melville) chipped in with seven points (all
second half) and seven boards.
Sophomore Epiphany Smith
(Springdale, Ark./Har-Ber) led three Saint Anselm players
in double-figures with 16 points, shooting 4-for-10 from
three-point range, to go with three assists and two steals.
Classmate Megan Howard (Saint Paul, Minn./Central)
added 14 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field, a game-high nine
rebounds (four offensive), two assists and a steal. Senior
Erin Higgins (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) finished
with 14 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the field, including 4-of-7
from the three-point range, four assists, three rebounds and two
steals.
Stonehill finished shooting
43.9-percent (25-for-57) from the field after a blistering 63.3%
(19-30) performance in the second half to pull away. After shooting
1-for-10 (10%) from three-point range in the opening 20-minutes,
the Skyhawks were a more economical 3-for-4 (75%) in the second
half, and they also canned 11-of-13 (84.6%) free-throws on the
night.
Saint Anselm shot 42-percent
(21-for-50) from the field, including 8-for-22 (36.4%) from
three-point range, while going to the line just four times, making
two, in the game. The Hawks also finished on the wrong end of a
19-11 turnover margin, which resulted in Stonehill posting a 15-8
scoring advantage in points off turnovers.
The game featured four ties and
eight lead changes before Stonehill posted its game-clinching 15-4
run that turned a 41-40 lead with 9:16 to play left in regulation
into a 12-point margin (56-44) after a Simonds three with 3:49
remaining. She scored seven points in all during the run, while
sophomore Cori O'Kane (Pocasset, Mass./Cardinal
Spellman) added two-straight baskets.
A Smith three pulled Saint Anselm
back within eight (60-52) with 1:53 to go, but Williams answered
with a jumper and Rousseau nailed the game shut with a three with
45-seconds left after a Hawks miss resulting in the final 13-point
margin of victory.
Saint Anselm took advantage of
22.2-percent (6-for-27) shooting by Stonehill in the first half to
build as much as a nine-point lead (19-10) following a Higgins
three with 7:36 remaining before the intermission. Stonehill then
closed the half out with an 11-2 burst to even the score (21-21) at
the break, capped by a Simonds three with 2:10 remaining. She
scored the final seven points in that stretch and neither team
scored in the final 2:10 of the frame.
Stonehill (7-2, 3-0 NE-10) is back
in action on Saturday when it hosts Southern New Hampshire
University in Merkert Gymnasium at 1:30 p.m. Saint Anselm (1-5, 0-4
NE-10) visits the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Saturday at
2 p.m.
