Saint Anselm Tops AIC In NE-10 Tournament
Hawks Advance To Face Bentley In Quarterfinals

Springfield, Mass. (March 2, 2003)-The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team extended its longest winning streak of the season to seven games by defeating the Yellow Jackets of American International by a final score of 68-45 in the opening round of the Northeast-10 tournament on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Hawks improved to 17-11 on the season and advanced to the quarterfinals where they will travel to Waltham, Mass. to face top-seeded, and nationally third-ranked, Bentley. The Yellow Jackets fell to 15-13 on the year and will miss out on the NE-10 Final Four for the first time in nine seasons.

The first half began slowly with each team trying to find a weakness in the other's defense. With the score knotted at 6-6, junior Jennifer Reddish (Weymouth, Mass./ Archbishop Williams) provided the Hawks some early breathing room by hitting a pair of baskets in a 9-2 Saint Anselm run, making the score 15-8 with 12:14 remaining in the period. AIC would cut the lead to 17-15, with 9:27 until halftime, on a basket from senior Lauren Clancy (Bellingham, Mass./ Bellingham), but strong inside play from Hawks' senior Sara Petrowicz (Grafton, Mass./ Holy Name)-who pulled down 10 first half rebounds-allowed the visitors to head to the locker room with a 34-26 advantage. Saint Anselm freshman Raenielle Decastro-Cain (Manchester, Conn./ Manchester) led all scorers at the intermission with 10 points off the bench.

The Hawks started off the second half exactly where they left off in the first, controlling the pace of the game underneath the hoop, which was made easier with American Int'l freshman forward Sharmion Selman (Burlington, Vt./ Burlington) spending much of the game in foul trouble. The Hawks' lead ballooned to 19 points, 59-40, on a layup from Decastro-Cain with 5:19 left to play. Reddish iced the game for Saint Anselm by draining a 3-pointer with 52 seconds remaining to push the Hawks' lead to 23 points, 66-43, en route to the 68-45 final.

Decastro-Cain led all scorers with 18 points off the bench for the Hawks, and she was backed by 11 points each from Reddish and junior Brianna Blanchard (Presque Isle, Maine/ Presque Isle).

Despite the foul trouble, Selman topped the Yellow Jackets' roster with 16 points, while Clancy was the only other AIC player to finish in double figures with 10 points.

The win was the first for Saint Anselm when playing at American International since January 27, 1996, a span of five games.

Score By Period	1	2	OT	F
#9 Saint Anselm	34	34	-	68
#8 American Int'l	26	19	-	45

Box Score