Women's Basketball Rings in New Year with Win at Saint Anselm
MANCHESTER, NH – Jockeying for position in the
Northeast-10 Conference, the Merrimack women's basketball
team notched their second straight win and first win of the 2010
portion of their season at Saint Anselm Saturday afternoon,
55-44.
Allowing a season-low 44 points, Merrimack forced 21 Hawks
turnovers while sophomore Genn Roy (Granby,
MA) scored a game-high 18 points, including 11 in the
first half.
Head Coach Helen Williams was happy with
her team's defensive effort and first win streak of the year.
"Our defense was considerably solid, especially when [Saint
Anselm] put the full court pressure on in the second half.
It's a big win for us in Conference play and Wednesday will
be a great opportunity against American International."
Senior captain Casey Miller
(Fairbanks, AK) would also chip in 14 points to help
Merrimack improve to 4-8 (2-5 NE-10), while Saint Anselm drops to
4-7 (1-6 NE-10) on the year.
1st Half
In the first 3:30 of play, Merrimack jumped out to an early lead
on layups from Roy and Miller in the lane. Miller would later bury
a long three as the shot clock ran down, but a steal and jumper
from Erin Higgins gave the Hawks their first lead of the game at
9-7, 7:30 into the contest.
Freshman Katie Ganser (Needham,
MA) would end a four-plus minute drought from the field
with a three from the corner to give Merrimack a 10-9 edge midway
through the first half (11:16) before the teams battled back and
forth to a 14-14 tie at the seven minute mark.
To end the first half, the Warriors would go on a 13-2 run over
the final 4:30 that was capped off by a pair of threes from
Sarah
Benischek (Shrub Oak, NY) to give Merrimack their
largest lead of the first half. The Warriors were aided by 15
Hawks' turnovers from which the Warriors scored two-thirds of
their first half points.
2nd Half
With help from full-court, trapping pressure, the Hawks would cut
the lead to one (32-31) on a pair of threes from Epiphany Smith
less than seven minutes into the second half before Roy scored
seven of nine quick Merrimack points to give the Warriors a 41-34
lead midway through the half.
Pushing the lead back to double digits with fewer than five
minutes to play, the Warriors would get back-to-back threes from
Miller to give the visitors their largest lead of the game at
53-40.
Out-rebounding the Hawks 30-25 on the afternoon, Merrimack
grabbed 13 offensive boards to score 10 second chance points and as
many in the paint.
Improving to 2-0 on the season when leading at the half, the
Warriors won their first game of the New Year for the first time
since 2005 when they knocked off Stonehill College, 72-58 on the
road. The 44 points they allowed is also the fewest Merrimack
has surrendered since one year ago (Jan. 8, 2009) when the Warriors
defeated Le Moyne College, 68-41 while connecting on 14
three-pointers.
Merrimack returns to action on Wednesday to cap off a six-game
road trip at American International College at 5:30pm in
Springfield, Massachusetts. The Yellow Jackets (4-8, 2-5
NE-10) also won on Saturday afternoon, 53-37 over the University of
Bridgeport.
