CHICAGO, Ill. (January 25, 2025) – Stonehill College postgraduate transfer
Kylie Swider posted a double-double for the second-straight game to power the Skyhawks to the 1000
th win in program history with a 66-64 triumph at Chicago State University in Northeast Conference women's basketball action at the Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center this afternoon.
Stonehill is the 49
th women's basketball program across all three levels in NCAA history to reach 1,000 wins, having posted a 1,000-451 (.689) record over its 53 seasons. The Skyhawks 1,000 wins rank fourth among New England women's basketball programs behind only Connecticut (1,322), Bentley (1,192), and Husson (1,181). Tennessee's 1,486 wins lead all women's basketball programs and Stonehill is the first NEC program, past or present, to reach the milestone.
Swider scored a career-high 27 points and matched her career-best with 16 rebounds for her team-leading fifth double-double, totaling 16 points and ten boards in the second half alone. It marks her third 20-point game of the season – all over the last five games – and ninth double-digit rebound game, as she finished shooting 11-for-20 from the floor while converting 5-of-6 free-throws to go with two blocks, an assist, and a steal.
Delaney scored ten of her career-high 14 points in the first half to provide a spark off the Skyhawks bench (PHOTO BY Larry Radloff Photography) |
Stonehill got a career-high 14 points from sophomore reserve guard
Breana Delaney, including ten in the first half, on 6-of-9 shooting, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, with three rebounds, two assists and career-best two steals in 26-minutes off the bench for the Skyhawks. Senior
Sharn Hayward rounded out Stonehill's double-figure scorers with ten points, a career-high eight assists, three rebounds, and two steals, while freshman
Megan Sias chipped in seven points and a season-best eight boards.
Freshman
Aiyanna Culver led three from Chicago State in double-figures with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Junior
Josie Hill scored 11 of her 15 points in the first half, finishing 6-of-13 from the floor, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots, while sophomore
Kace Urlacher posted 11 points, eight boards, three assists, two steals and a block.
Stonehill withstood a Chicago State rally from ten points down (54-44) after Sias scored a tip-in to open the fourth quarter to earn its ninth win of the season. Swider scored the Skyhawks final four points in the last minute to halt the comeback, including the winning basket with 7.5 seconds to play. The Cougars used a 12-2 run to pull even (56-56) on a three-point play from Urlacher with six minutes remaining.
Stonehill bent, but would not break, not surrendering the lead as Delaney and Swider followed with consecutive baskets to restore a four-point cushion (62-58) with four minutes to play. Chicago State drew even again (62-62) with two free throws from senior
Tania Allen with 1:21 to play, but Swider's two baskets in the final minute secured the Skyhawks win.
Stonehill took a three-point lead (31-28) into halftime after trailing by as much as six in the opening quarter behind Swider and Delaney's 21 combined points. Senior
Maureen Stapleton scored the only basket by either team over the first three minutes of the third quarter with a three-pointer to stretch the Skyhawks lead to six (34-28). Stonehill extended the lead to seven (42-35) with a Sias free-throw with four minutes to go in the third and stretched it to eight (44-36) with two Swider free-throws a minute later.
Swider twice pushed the Stonehill lead to double figures for the first time in the last minute of the third quarter, but Hill and Culver kept the Skyhawks within reach with answering buckets to draw within eight (52-44) heading to the fourth.
Noteworthy
