BOX SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Stephanie
Houghton (Manchester, NH) drained five three-pointers
and totaled 17 points to lead Southern New Hampshire University to
a 66-62 Northeast-10 women's basketball victory over Merrimack
College at the SNHU Fieldhouse Wednesday night. The Penmen
won their second in a row to improve to 13-8 and 8-8 in the
league, while the Warriors saw a two-game win streak snapped
and are now 7-14 and 6-0 in the league.
Houghton was 5-9 from three-point
land and 6-12 overall from the field while also grabbing four
rebounds. Julia
Houghtaling (Franconia, NH) finished with 16 points
and nine rebounds, while Jenny McDade (Derry,
NH) added eight points and eight boards. Alyssa
Whitney (Somerville, MA) matched a career-high by
handing out eight assists, while also scoring five points.
Casey Miller led all scorers with
22 points off the bench for Merrimack. Amanda Shannon totaled
17 points, while Gennifer Roy added 10 points. Hannah
DeGraffinreed registered eight points, 16 rebounds and five assists
for the Warriors.
Southern New Hampshire led 60-48
with just over five minutes left when Merrimack ran off nine
unanswered points and a three by Shannon with 1:44 left cut the
lead to three, 60-57. On SNHU's next possession, Houghton
drained her fifth three of the night off a pass from the post by
Houghtaling to bump the lead to six. DeGraffinreed answered
with a layup on the next Merrimack trip to make it 63-59 with just
under a minute left. The two teams then traded empty trips,
and Houghtaling would be fouled and make a pair of free throws to
make it 65-59 with 25 seconds to play.
Shannon cut the lead to four on a
Shannon layup, then fouled Houghton, who missed two at the
line. Merrimack's Tiffany Colon would be fouled with 6.5
seconds on the clock, and would make 1-of-2 at the line to pull the
Warriors within three, 65-62. McDade would be fouled on the
inbounds and after missing her first, made the second free throw to
seal the win.
After leading 28-24 at halftime,
the Penmen scored the first five points of the second half, and
outscored Merrimack 13-5 in the first five minutes to take a 41-29
lead on a jumper by Houghton. The guests cut the lead
to seven with just over nine minutes left when Miller made 1-of-2
at the line, but a 9-2 SNHU spurt gave the hosts their largest lead
of the game, 59-45, with 6:39 remaining on a three by Christine
Duffy (South Boston, MA).
Merrimack led much of the first
half and held a 22-18 lead with just over five minutes left on a
three by Shannon. The Penmen scored six of the next eight
points and a three by Houghton with 1:29 left gave SNHU a 26-24
lead. Southern New Hampshire held a 28-24 lead at the break.
Southern New Hampshire shot 53.6%
in the second half and 46.3% for the game while limiting Merrimack
to 25.7% shooting in the first half and 31.1% (19-61) for the
game. The Penmen hit nine of their 20 three-point attempts,
but were just 7-19 at the free throw line. SNHU committed a
season-low 12 turnovers, but were outrebounded by Merrimack 44-37.
SNHU returns to action Saturday
when it travels to No. 11 Stonehill College for a 1:30 contest.
NOTES: Southern
New Hampshire matched last season's victory total with the
win...Houghton passed the 900-point mark in Wednesday's game...with
907 career points, she is currently 17th on SNHU's
career scoring list...the Penmen improved to 12-3 when holding
teams under 40% shooting this season...nine of the 10 players who
saw action for SNHU scored.
