MANCHESTER, N.H. – Bianca Simmons totaled 32 points to lead UMass Lowell to a 96-82 Northeast-10 women's basketball victory over Southern New Hampshire University Sunday afternoon at the SNHU Fieldhouse.  The River Hawks improve to 7-4 and 4-3 in the NE-10 with the victory, while the Penmen are now 5-6 and 2-5 in the league.

Simmons finished 13-22 from the floor and led three UML players in double figures.  Danielle DePierro was 7-10 from the floor and finished with 17 points off the bench, while Ashley Rivera added 12 points on 6-10 shooting.

Senior Michelle DeRoma (West Roxbury, Mass.) recorded a career-best 23 points, going 5-8 behind the three-point arc, to lead three players in double figures for Southern New Hampshire.  With her five threes, she now has 123 for her Penmen career, moving her past Jen Ryan and into fourth place on the SNHU career list.  Sloane Sorrell (Berwick, Maine) finished with 12 points, while Victoria Wiseman (Montreal, Quebec) added 11.

UMass Lowell never trailed and used a 7-0 spurt to open a 23-14 lead following a Rivera basket with 10:27 left in the first half.  A 9-0 run capped by a pair of Simmons free throws 2:21 before intermission gave the River Hawks their largest lead of the first frame, 50-32, and the guests took a 53-38 lead into the locker room as Melissa Frase knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to close out the half.

Southern New Hampshire got the lead down to 10 three times in the second half, the last coming on a DeRoma basket with 10:35 to play that made it a 72-62 game.  UMass Lowell salted the game away over the next five minutes as it outscored the Penmen 14-4 to open up an 86-66 lead with just over five minutes to go, its largest lead of the game.

UMass Lowell shot 55.6% overall and 57.1% (8-14) behind the arc in the first half and 52.1% overall for the game.  Southern New Hampshire shot 60.9% in the second half and 45.6% for the game and took 17 more trips to the free throw line than the guests, going 22-30 while UML was 11-13.  SNHU was also 8-13 behind the arc, but the Penmen could not overcome a 41-31 rebounding advantage and a 29-19 River Hawk lead in points off turnovers.

Southern New Hampshire returns to action Wednesday night when it travels to Le Moyne College in a 5:30 Northeast-10 contest.  The next Penmen home game is Saturday, January 12 when SNHU hosts Assumption College in a 1:30 tilt at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

For the latest on Southern New Hampshire University athletics, follow the Penmen via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube or sign up for text message score alerts via eScores.