Blanchard, Saint Anselm Drill New Haven
Hawks Shoot 55 Percent From Floor, Cruise 75-56

Boca Raton, Fla. (December 28, 2002)- Saint Anselm College ran out to a big lead and coasted home to a 75-56 win over the University of New Haven in the first game of the Lynn Holiday Inn Classic in Boca Raton,Fla.

Saint Anselm improves to 5-4 on the season, ending a two-game skid while New Haven slips to 3-3 on the year.

Saint Anselm dominated from the start, eventually building a 21-point lead in the opening session and going into halftime with a comanding 44-24 lead. The Hawks literally ran out to their big first half margin, outscoring the Chargers 10-0 on fast break opportunities. After missing their first two shot attetmps, the Hawks burried five of their next six and continued the hot shooting to finish the first half at a 58-percent clip, including a 56-percent mark from deep (5-for-9).

The Hawks built their largest lead of the game at 54-24 with 16:46 to play before New Haven started chipping away with a 22-8 run to cut the Hawk lead to under 20 points at 62-46. Brianna Blanchard (Presque Isle, Maine/ Presque Isle) came back to drain a jumper and a long ball however, and a pair of free throws from Raenielle Decastro-Cain (Manchester, Conn./ Manchester) put the Hawks back up by 20.

Saint Anselm finished the game with a shooting percentage of 55-percent, hitting on half of its long balls (8-for-16). The team committed just seven fouls in the game and eight different players scored at least five points in the balanced attack.

Blanchard finished the game with 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting to go along with three assists and two steals in just 24 minutes of action. Jen Carson (Townsend, Mass./ N. Middlesex) added 10 points (all in the first half) on 5-for-7 shooting with seven rebounds and four blocks. Also scoring in double figures was freshman Lanna Martin (Calais, Maine/ Calais), who registered 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

Saint Anselm advances to Sunday's championship game against the winner of host Lynn University and Lock Haven (Pa.). Game time will be 4:00 PM.

Score By Period 1 2 OT F
New Haven 24 32 - 56
Saint Anselm 44 31 - 75
Box Score