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| Freshman Tania Williams came off the bench to score four points and grab a career-high seven rebounds in Stonehill's 70-58 win over Assumption. |
20/20 Vision: No. 8 Skyhawks Take Down Greyhounds
Easton, Mass. - Junior Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) and senior Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) scored 20 points apiece as No. 8 Stonehill celebrated the 1,000th game in program history with a 70-58 win over visiting Assumption on Saturday afternoon at Merkert Gymnasium.
Both teams entered the game in a four-way tie for first place in the Northeast-10 standings at 4-1 and with the victory and a pair of other losses around the league today, the Skyhawks are now in sole possession of first place.
Simonds added 13 rebounds, five blocks and three assists to her totals giving her a Northeast-10 leading five double-doubles.
Tighe, meanwhile, added seven rebounds to her stat line and has now topped the 20 point mark in two of her last three games.
Down early in the first half, Stonehill ran off eight straight points including back-to-back three-pointers from Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.) and Tighe to give them a 22-15 edge.
The lead traded hands six times in the opening 20 minutes before a 14-2 run to open the second half gave the Skyhawks a commanding 50-35 edge with just under 16 minutes remaining in the game.
Assumption fought back, trimming 11 points off of the Stonehill advantage following a Brittany Cohen three-pointer with 9:05 left that put the score at 54-50.
The Greyhounds eventually got the lead down to three at 57-54 on a pair from the charity stripe by Bethany Plasski but the Skyhawks put together another one of their patented runs - this one a 10-0 spurt that featured six points from Simonds that pushed the lead to 13 at 67-54 with 1:34 remaining.
Assumption made six free throws down the stretch but the win marked the second straight contest in which the Skyhawks haven't allowed a basket over the final five minutes of regulation. The Greyhounds final hoop came on a Plasski layup with 5:57 left.
Emily Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine) joined Simonds and Tighe in double figures for Stonehill with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, while freshman Tania Williams (South Setauket, N.Y.) came off the bench and provided a spark for the Skyhawks finishing with four points and a career-high seven rebounds.
Stonehill held Assumption to just 34 percent shooting including an icy 8-for-32 (25 percent) in the second half.
With the inside duo of Tighe and Simonds leading the way, the Skyhawks outscored the Greyhounds 32-16 in the paint and had 12 second chance points.
Now 7-1 and 5-1 in Northeast-10 action, the Skyhawks won't return to the court until Tuesday when they host Southern Connecticut at 5:30 p.m.