Collins Scores 20 Points, Including Deciding Bucket In Closing Seconds, As 11th-Ranked Women's Basketball Rallies To Continue Best Start In School History With 67-64 Northeast-10 Triumph At Saint Michael's

January 14, 2006

STONEHILL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Ross Sports Center, Colchester, Vt.

FINAL:STONEHILL 67, SAINT MICHAEL'S 64

COLCHESTER, Vt.-- Junior Alisha Collins (Port Chester, N.Y.) scored 20 points, including the deciding bucket with 32 seconds remaining, as 11th-ranked Stonehill rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit and continue its best start ever with a 67-64 Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball victory over Saint Michael's Saturday afternoon at the Ross Sports Center.

It was a tale of two halves for the visiting Skyhawks, which at 15-0 overall are off to the best start in the 35-year history of the program while improving to a perfect 10-0 in Northeast-10 play for the best conference start in nine years. After opening up an early four-point cushion, Stonehill was held scoreless for over seven minutes of play as the host Purple Knights (11-3, 7-3 Northeast-10) used a 12-0 run to take a 23-8 advantage and built that margin to 21 points (32-11) on a lay-in by junior Dani Rayner (Westminster, Vt.) with 4:08 to play in the half. The Skyhawks closed out the half with a run of their own, however, scoring 10 of the final 12 points in the final 3:29 to trail by that 13-point margin (34-21) at the break, as Stonehill shot just 21 percent from the field in the half.

Saint Michael's saw its lead dwindle to seven in the early stages of the second half, but the Purple Knights regained a double-digit advantage and led by 12 points (47-35) on a three-pointer by senior Brigid Hegarty (North Andover, Mass.) with 14:32 remaining in the contest. Stonehill then turned the scoreless trick on the hosts, holding Saint Michael's off the board for eight plus minutes of action while scoring 19 unanswered points of its own to take a 54-47 cushion with 6:54 to play, but the Purple Knights responded with a 13-1 run of their own to take a 60-55 lead with just over four miuntes remaining. The Skyhawks answered back with an 8-2 run to take a 63-62 lead with 1:09 to play on a lay-in by freshman Kelsey Simonds (Bridgewater, Mass.), and after Saint Michael's took its final lead of the day on a jumper by sophomore Allison Dunn (Wippany, N.J.) on the ensuing possession, Collins's lay-in on the next Stonehill possession gave the visitors the lead for good, as a Simonds steal coupled with two free throws by junior Tiffany Huggins (Stoughton, Mass.) iced matters for the Skyhawks and capped the comeback.

"This win just reinforced how much of a team we really are," Stonehill Head Coach Trisha Brown said after the game. "We needed all 13 players to get this done.

"At halftime, I thought we needed to create more offensive opportunities off our defense, and we did just that," Brown continued. "I'm pleased with the adjustments and certainly with the effort it took to win this game."

Collins added six rebounds to go with her 20 point effort in the triumph for Stonehill, which scored 46 points after intermission, while fellow junior Caitlin Kennedy (Baldwin, N.Y.) added 15 points and seven rebounds while canning all four of her three-point attempts. Huggins finished with nine points, a team-high nine rebounds and three assists for the Skyhawks, who also received eight points and four rebounds from junior Kim Morast (Bridgewater, Mass.). Simonds added six points, five rebounds and three steals for Stonehill, which shot 67 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes of play and used a 44-32 rebounding advantage (14-7 on the offensive glass alone) to overcome 26 turnovers. The Skyhawks also held a 17-11 scoring edge at the foul line while matching the second-longest winning streak in school history (the 1986-87 squad also won 15 straight) and surpassing the 1971-72 team's previous best start of 14-0.

Rayner finished with a double-double effort of 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the setback for Saint Michael's, which also received 15 points, five steals and four rebounds from sophomore Adrienne Carpenter (Princeton, Mass.). Hegarty finished with 11 points and became the 14th player in Purple Knights' history to surpass the 1,000 career point plateau, while freshman Anna Florent (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was also in double figures with 10 points for the hosts, who shot 39 percent from the field and recorded 16 steals and 10 blocked shots on the afternoon. The win was Stonehill's 39th in 47 all-time series with Saint Michael's and gave the Skyhawks a sweep of the regular season series with the Purple Knights.

Stonehill hosts Saint Anselm in a Northeast-10 outing on Monday evening at Merkert Gymnasium beginning at 5:30 p.m., while Saint Michael's heads to Waltham, Mass. on Monday evening to square off with Bentley in a Northeast-10 match-up that also begins at 5:30 p.m.