BOX SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Stephanie Houghton
(Manchester, NH) finished with 17 points to lead Southern New
Hampshire University to a 72-56 Northeast-10 women's basketball
victory over Saint Anselm College Thursday night at the SNHU
Fieldhouse. The Penmen, who completed the season sweep of
their crosstown rival, improved to 7-7 overall and 4-6 in NE-10
play, while the Hawks are now 5-10 and 2-8 in the league.
The win marks the first time the
Penmen have been at the .500 mark this late in the season since the
1990-91 campaign where SNHU was also 7-7 after 14 games.
Houghton, who also had three
steals, led four SNHU players in double figures.
Heather Marino (Billerica, MA) totaled 11 points
off the bench, going 5-7 from the floor. Julia
Houghtaling (Franconia, NH) and Ashara
Carrington (Marblehead, MA) each finished with 10 points
for the Penmen, who won for the fourth time in five outings.
Cassaundra Thorpe
(Portsmouth, NH) led the Hawks with 14 points while Rachel
Reilly (Londonderry, NH) added 10.
The Penmen never trailed and jumped
out to a 10-3 lead just 5:44 into the game following a Houghton
three-pointer. Saint Anselm scored five straight to make it a
10-8 game, but the Penmen went up 25-16 with 6:33 left on a
Houghton free throw. SNHU took its largest lead in the frame,
35-24, on a Houghton layup with 50 seconds before intermission and
took a 35-27 lead into the break.
The hosts extended their lead to 12
early in the second half on a Houghtaling basket before the Hawks
closed to within six, 43-37, with 14:53 left on a Thorpe
basket. Southern New Hampshire salted the game away with a
9-2 run capped by a Marino three with just under eight minutes to
go to make it 57-44. The Penmen held a double-digit lead the
rest of the way and took their largest lead on an Alyssa
Whitney (Somerville, MA) basket with 37 seconds left that
made it 72-54.
Southern New Hampshire outrebounded
Saint Anselm 39-31 and committed just 13 turnovers compared to 24
Saint Anselm giveaways that led to 20 Penmen points. The
Hawks shot 44.7% for the contest but SNHU took 23 more field goal
attempts (61-38).
Southern New Hampshire returns to
action Saturday when it travels to No. 14 Franklin Pierce for a
1:30 tipoff.
