Senior Tania Williams led a balanced offensive effort for Stonehill with 12 points, shooting 6-for-7 from the field. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Williams leads balanced Skyhawks effort with 12 points
Senior forward Tania Williams (South Setauket, N.Y./Ward-Melville) led a balanced offensive effort for Stonehill with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds and three assists. Freshman Tori Faieta (Lynn, Mass./Saint Mary's) added nine points off the bench, shooting 4-for-6 from the field, with three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Sophomore Mary Louise Dixon (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) contributed eight points, a team-high seven rebounds, five assists and two steals, while freshman Amy Pelletier (Beverly, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) chipped in eight points.
Senior Coreen Hennessy (Chatham, N.H./Fryeburg Academy) led Saint Michael's with a game-high 18 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the field, including 2-for-4 from three point range, while converting 6-of-7 free-throws, to go with four rebounds and two assists. Junior Nicole Adach (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen) added 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals, while sophomore Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) pulled down a game high nine boards.
Freshman Tori Faieta added nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in 19 minutes off the bench. (PHOTO BY Gil Talbot) |
Stonehill finished shooting 46.9-percent (23-for-49) from the field for the afternoon, including 47.1% (8-for-17) in the second half, compared to 29.6% (8-27) shooting for Saint Michael's over the final 20 minutes. The Purple Knights shot 35.3% (18-51) from the field overall. Turnovers were even at 16 apiece, but the Skyhawks took better advantage, outscoring their hosts 17-4 off turnovers, while also enjoying a 12-5 scoring advantage on second chance points despite being edged 32-31 on the glass and the Stonehill reserves outscored the Purple Knights bench 21-7.
Stonehill led by two (33-31) at halftime and quickly extended it to nine (42-33) after back-to-back baskets from Williams, who had six points in all during that opening stretch, which was also sparked by a Pelletier three-pointer. Sophomore Abbey Lalime (Orleans, Vt./Lake Region Union) buried a triple to but the Skyhawks up a game-high ten points (47-37) with 11:25 to play.
Stonehill's lead was still nine (53-44) after Dixon made one of two at the free-throw line with 5:53 left, when Saint Michael's scored eight of the next nine points to pull within two (54-52) on a layup from Adach with 1:12 remaining. However, that would prove to be the Purple Knights' last field goal of the game as they missed their final three shots from the field, allowing Dixon to seal the win with a pair of free-throws with 16-seconds to play that closed out the scoring.
Stonehill jumped out to a 6-1 lead after a layup from Dixon three minutes into the contest. Saint Michael's rallied to take the lead (11-10) on a three by Hennessy just over five and a half minutes in. That would prove to be the Purple Knights last lead as the Skyhawks opened their first nine point cushion (23-14) with 7:58 left in the half after a three and jumper by Pelletier. Saint Michael's closed the deficit to a point twice down the stretch in the half before Stonehill took its two point lead into halftime.
Stonehill (5-3, 2-3 NE-10) returns home to host Southern New Hampshire University for an NE-10 clash on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Saint Michael's (4-5, 1-4 NE-10) hosts Merrimack College on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
