When and Where: December 1, 2021 – Manchester, N.H. (Stan Spirou Field House)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 77, Saint Michael's College 46
Records: SNHU 6-1 (2-1 NE10), SMC 2-3 (1-1 NE10)

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Russell – 21 points (7-11 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 6-6 FT), 4 rebounds
• Sophomore Jessica Knight (Hanover, Mass.) – career-high 14 points (5-10 FG, 4-4 FT), career-high 8 rebounds, career-high 4 blocks, career-high 2 steals
• Graduate student Meg Knollmeyer (Hampton, N.H.) – 13 points (4-12 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 4-4 FT), 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals
• Junior Adriana Timberlake (Braintree, Mass.) – 12 points (6-13 FG), 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals

KEY MOMENTS

• Saint Michael's actually held a 20-15 lead just over a minute into the second stanza, but Southern New Hampshire would outscore the Purple Knights, 24-6, over the remainder of the quarter to bring a 39-26 advantage to the break. Russell had 10 points during the stretch.
• The Penmen did not take their foot off the gas pedal in the second half, scoring 24 straight points to begin the third quarter and expand their lead to the largest of the game at 63-26 with less than a minute to go. Russell and Timberlake led the way with seven and six points, respectively. Saint Michael's would finally break its scoreless drought with 31 seconds on the clock and added a later free throw to make it 63-29 at the end of three.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Senior Samantha Chapps (Old Saybrook, Conn.) tallied a season-high six points (2-6 FG, 2-3 3-FG) to go with two rebounds and two assists.
• Graduate student Karlee Ziliak (Evansville, Ind.) added four points (2-5 FG) and a pair of rebounds.
• The Penmen defense held Saint Michael's without a point for 11:53 of game time in the second and third quarters.
• SNHU outshot SMC, 41.8 percent (28-67) to 28.1 percent (16-57) from the field, including 26.7 percent (4-15) to 26.3 percent (5-19) from beyond the arc and 94.4 percent (17-18) to 69.2 percent (9-13) from the stripe.
• The Penmen won the glass (42-39), dominated the paint (40-16), featured a better assist-to-turnover ratio (11/11-6/23), scored more points off turnovers (33-10) – including 24-0 in the middle two quarters – received more scoring from their bench (27-16), scored more second chance points (14-8) and more points on the fast break (14-3).

NOTES

• Southern New Hampshire, which has now won four-in-a-row, is off to its best start since the 2018-19 season.
• Saint Michael's still leads the all-time series with Southern New Hampshire, 31-21, but SNHU has won six of the last seven meetings, including three straight. The Penmen have also won four-in-a-row at home against the Purple Knights, which has not won a game at SNHU since Dec. 10, 2016 (77-72).
• The 31-point margin of victory is the largest for the Penmen since they defeated the College of Staten Island by 41 (91-50) on Nov. 17, 2019.
• Knollmeyer, who leads the league and is among the nation's leaders with 14.9 rebounds per game, is averaging 18.3 boards and has four double-doubles over her last four games.
• Russell is the only Penmen to have scored in double figures in all seven games this season.

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Penmen return to action Tuesday, Dec. 7 (5:30 p.m.) when they play host to Bentley University in a game that will air live on WGIR 610-AM at the Stan Spirou Field House.

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