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Bethany Tighe fell three rebounds shy of the school record with 19 boards in the 59-48 win over Bentley. |
Bentley, Mass. - Not many times can a team shoot 31 percent from the field, score only 17 points in the first half and have 19 turnovers and win at all, nevertheless by double figures.
All those things were true for Stonehill, who despite all those factors, improved to 9-0 with a 59-48 win over No. 21 Bentley on Saturday afternoon at the Dana Center in Waltham.
After a first half that saw the Skyhawks shoot a frigid 6-for-30 and commit 12 turnovers, Stonehill found itself down 36-26 with less than 13 minutes to go. However, the insertion of freshman Ashley Caiafa (Massapequa, N.Y.) into the Skyhawk lineup sparked a 19-4 run that turned the fortunes for both teams and change the face of the game.
Caiafa, who entered the game having scored only 15 total points in seven games thus far this season, erupted for a career-best 10 points, including a key drive and finish that ignited the game-changing run. Before the run began, she drilled a rightside triple and following her interior finish, she found Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) for a wide open free throw jumper.
Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.), coming off back-to-back 20+ point performances, connected a three pointer to finally give the Skyhawks the lead for good at 40-38 at the 7:43 mark.
Neither team could get their offense untracked as they both shot 31 percent from the field for the game. Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) took advantage of all of the missed shots, grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds, three shy of the school record of 22 set by Sue Patchett against New Haven in the 1996-97 season.
The Falcons, the Northeast-10's worst free-throw shooting team went just 2-for-6 from the charity stripe, while the Skyhawks took advantage of their trips, going 19-for-25.
Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine) led the Skyhawks with 18 points, four rebounds and four steals. Simonds, who just missed another double-double, totaled all 12 of her points in the second half to go with nine rebounds.
No Bentley player reached double figures, but three players, Kristy McLean, Kim Brennan and Vanessa Lux all had nine, but shot a combined 12-for-36. Sophomore Collette Josey was the Falcons most impressive player with eight points, eight rebounds and eight blocks.
Stonehill has one more Northeast-10 matchup, this Wednesday at Bryant, before heading to the Cruzin' Classic in Miami, Fla. from December 19-20.