|
|
Kelsey Simonds recorded her fourth game of 20+ points this season in the win over St. Anselm. |
North Easton, Mass. - The combination of juniors Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) and Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) nearly outscored the visiting St. Anselm Hawks by themselves, as No. 18 Stonehill opened the second half of their schedule with a convincing 60-43 home win on Wednesday night.
Simonds led all scorers with 22 points and nine rebounds to go along with three message-sending blocks, while Tighe poured in 16, as the Skyhawks led by as many as 20 late in the second half before improving to 11-2 overall and 7-1 in the Northeast-10.
Stonehill jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead behind two triples from Tighe and one from Simonds sandwiched around a Meghan Driscoll (Bridgewater, Mass.) layup before a layup by the Carleen Orawsky and a jumper from Rachel Reilly cut the lead to 11-6. The two teams traded baskets through the next 10 minutes before Stonehill pushed the lead to 28-19 with 1:38 remaining in the opening period. The Hawks ended the half on a quick 5-0 spurt to trim the Stonehill advantage to 28-24 at halftime.
Behind a stingy defense the held the Hawks to just 25 percent shooting in the second half, Stonehill opened the half on a 19-6 run, highlighted by two three pointers from freshman Kristen McWhirter (Melvin Village, N.H.), and never looked back as the visitors never got closer than six moments into the final 20 minutes. For the game St. Anselm shot just 29 percent while Stonehill connected on 42 percent of their 54 attempts.
McWhirter added three rebounds to go with her six points and senior Daryl Cioffi (New Milford, N.J.) added seven points, four assists and three steals.
Freshman Erin Higgins led St. Anselm with 11 points, while Rachel Reilly totaled nine points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The Skyhawks return to action on Saturday when they host St. Michael's at Merkert Gymnasium at 1:30 p.m.