BOX SCORE
EASTON, Mass. - Three Southern New Hampshire players
reached double figures to lead the Penmen to a 61-58 upset win over
No. 11 Stonehill College in Northeast-10 women's basketball
Saturday afternoon at Merkert Gymnasium. The Penmen, ranked
No. 10 in the East Region, won their third in a row to improve to
14-8 overall and 9-8 in the NE-10, while the Skyhawks, who entered
the game ranked first in the region, are now 17-5 and 12-5 in the
league.
The win gives SNHU its most wins
since the 1990-91 season and guarantees the Penmen of finishing
above .500 in the regular season for the first time since that
season as well.
Julia Houghtaling
(Franconia, NH) led SNHU with 12 points and eight rebounds, with 10
of her points coming in the first half. She also handed out a
career-best six assists. Ashara
Carrington (Marblehead, MA) recorded a double-double
with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Alyssa Whitney
(Somerville, MA) notched 10 points and six assists.
Stephanie
Houghton (Manchester, NH) added nine points for
Southern New Hampshire.
Stonehill, which was without
leading scorer Kelsey Simonds for the second straight game, was led
by Bethany Tighe's 18 points and nine rebounds. Emily
Rousseau had 15 points while Kristen McWhirter added 14 points.
Southern New Hampshire led 53-43
with 5:26 left following a layup by Megan Smith
(Smithfield, ME), but the Skyhawks would use an 8-0 run to close
the gap to two and make it 53-51 with 1:18 left on a basket by
Tighe. Houghtaling scored on SNHU's next possession, but
Rousseau responded with 39 seconds left to make it 55-53.
The Penmen worked the clock down on
their next possession, and Houghton would be fouled while making a
layup with 16 seconds to play, completing the conventional
three-point play to make it 58-53. Rousseau would score with
10 seconds left, then Stonehill fouled Whitney with seven seconds
left. She made two at the line to make it 60-55, but Rousseau
would hit a long three to cut the lead to two. Houghton would
be fouled and make 1-of-2 at the line with 0.1 seconds left to seal
the win.
SNHU led by eight at halftime and
pushed its lead to 12, 41-29, just under five minutes into the
second half on a basket by Carrington. The Skyhawks would get
the lead down to six, 44-38, with nine minutes to go on a three by
McWhirter, but would get no closer until their final push.
SNHU trailed just once in the early
going and jumped out to an 11-2 lead five minutes into the
game. The Penmen took their largest lead of the first half,
27-11, with 9:12 to play on a baseline jumper by Brooke Lefort
(Cumberland, RI). The Skyhawks closed the half on a 6-0 run
and a Tighe basket 45 seconds before halftime cut the SNHU
advantage to eight at halftime, 35-27.
The Penmen shot 57.7% in the first
half and 44.4% for the contest and outrebounded the Skyhawks
37-29. SNHU made nine more trips to the free throw line and
were 11-17 at the stripe while Stonehill was 7-8.
Southern New Hampshire returns to
action Tuesday night when it travels to Bentley University for a
5:30 contest.
NOTES: Saturday's
win was the first for the Penmen over a ranked opponent since
topping then-No. 18 Stonehill 72-55 towards the end of the 2005-06
season...Houghton moved into 16th place on SNHU's career
scoring list, passing former teammate Sara Tucker.
