BOX SCORE
Baltimore, MD – The University of Hartford women's basketball team squeezed out a 69-66 win over the UMBC Retrievers at the RAC Arena in their first conference road game of the season. Hartford was led by senior forward/center Diana Delva, who was named the America East Player of the Game, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. The Hawks improve to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Delva's 17 points was one of four players in double figures with Ilicia Mathis adding 12, while Erica Beverly and Daphne Elliott each added 10. Delva finished the game shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 7-of-9 from free throw line, while also leading the Hawks in rebounding with seven.
As a team, the Hawks finished the game shooting 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the field, including 28.0 percent (7-of-25) from the three point line. Tonight was the first time the Hawks finished with more than three three-pointers in the last five games.
The Hawks opened the game by scoring the first seven points, made possible by a pair of three pointers from Jackie Smith, to take the early lead. Defensively, Hartford held the Retrievers without a bucket until more than seven minutes had been played, with Meghan Colabella hit a jump shot with 12:57 to play.
A third three pointer for the Hawks, this time from Elliott led to Hartford's first double digit lead of the game with 10:42 to play before the break . The Hawks then used a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 16 (23-7) with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. Mathis led Hartford through the run with uninterrupted baskets, a layup and a three pointer.
The Retrievers weren't going to rest, chipping away at the lead slowly, before using a 10-0 run to pull within five, 30-25, with 23 seconds remaining before the buzzer. The run included back-to-back pull up three pointers from Carlee Cassidy.
Delva would close out the first half scoring with a layup in the final seconds to give Hartford a 32-25 advantage at the break. Cassidy led all players with nine points, while Delva led Hartford with eight points.
The Retrievers came out of the break in much the same fashion they ended the half, taking their first lead of the game within the first four minutes. UMBC scored 10 of the first 12 points of the half, including back-to-back three pointers from Colabella and Michele Brokans, which led to the 35-34 lead.
The Hawks regained the lead on an Elliott three pointer before the teams traded baskets and leads 10 times over the next 10 minutes. The largest lead of the game for the Retrievers came on five-straight free throws , four from Tope Obajulo and one from Cassidy with 5:43 to play in the game.
Hartford retook the lead for the final time on back-to-back baskets from Delva and Mathis with 1:37 to play. Mathis' jumper came as time expired on the shot clock and gave Hartford a 65-60 lead.
Free throws saved the Hawks in the final moments, but by the thinnest of margins. Three-straight free throws from three different players gave Hartford a 68-62 lead with 25 seconds remaining. The Retrievers managed back-to-back layups from Cassidy within the next 17 seconds to cut Hartford lead to two, before Jenna Petersonknocked down the second of two free throws, forcing the Retrievers to look for a last second three pointer which fell short of the basket as the buzzer sounded.
The Hawks will return to action with their second-straight road conference game on Saturday at New Hampshire at 4:00 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on the flagship station for Hartford women's basketball WWUH 91.3 FM.
