Saint Anselm Drops Second Straight In NE-10
10th-Ranked Bentley Survives Hawks, 68-66

Waltham, Mass. (January 11, 2003)-The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team suffered its second consecutive Northeast-10 Conference loss Saturday afternoon to 10th-ranked Bentley College by a score of 68-66 in a game that came right down to the wire at the Dana Center.

Trailing by one, 67-66 with 23 seconds remaining, the Hawks held possession and had two close range shots fall off the rim before Bentley's Chante Bonds (Brockton, Mass.) corralled a loose ball. Bonds was fouled with two seconds remaining and hit one free throw to seal the win.

The loss drops Saint Anselm to 8-6 overall, 4-6 in NE-10 play while Bentley improves to 13-2 overall, and remains undefeated in league play at 9-0. The win was also the Falcons' 33rd consecutive conference win at home.

Down by seven points at halftime, Saint Anselm took the lead at 45-43 with 12:40 in the second stanza thanks to a 15-4 run. The Hawks maintained a lead until 1:59 to play when a turnover on an inbounds play led to a Morgan DiPietro (Portland, Maine) layup to put the hosts ahead, 65-64. DiPietro struck again with a layup on the Falcons' next possession before the Hawks' Jen Carson (Townsend, Mass./ N. Middlesex) got the Hawks back to within one on a kiss shot off the backboard to set up the final possession.

In the back and forth game, Bentley battered the Hawks inside the paint in the opening session only to see the visitors turn the tables in the second half. Despite scoring 20 of its first 23 points in the paint, Bentley was outscored inside by a 38-34 count as the Hawks fought through the entire game against the bigger Falcons.

The deciding factor in the game might have been the Hawks' inability to inbound the ball. Saint Anselm turned the ball over four times on inbounds plays including the one that put Bentley ahead with under two minutes to play.

In the first half, Saint Anselm took a 20-19 lead at the 10:25 mark on a Molly Dullea (Longmeadow, Mass./ Longmeadow) jumper. The Hawks held the lead until the 4:13 mark when DiPietro hit a pair of free throws for the Falcons who went on to take a 39-32 halftime lead.

The Hawks were led by Carson, who recorded a career-high 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds. Dullea contributed 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting and Brianna Blanchard (Presque Isle, Maine/ Presque Isle) had 13.

The Falcons were led by Sara Wright (Attleboro, Mass.), who had 20 points (18 first half) and 14 rebounds (10 first half). Becky Davison (Beaver Falls, Pa.) contributed 14 points on the strength of 7-for-8 shooting at the free throw line, where the hosts enjoyed 15 more trips than the Hawks. For the game Bentley sank 19 of 26 from the charity stripe compared to 9-for-11 shooting for the Hawks.

Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday when the Hawks host Merrimack in a 5:30 PM matchup in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.

Score By Period	1	2	OT	F
Saint Anselm	32	34	-	66
Bentley	39	29	-	68

Box Score