Women’s basketball opens season with a trio of victories

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Crier\Ted Young

Junior Caitlyn Abela taking a jump shot versus Mercy College on Nov. 12.

Connor MacGregor, Crier Staff

Coming off an 18-10 record last season, culminating in a trip to the NCAA Division II tournament, the women’s basketball squad looks to start strong out of the gates. And this is exactly what they have done with a 3-0 start this year. The Hawks began their season with a pair of home games at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.

On Nov. 13, Saint A’s opened the season with a non-conference contest against the Mercy College Mavericks, out of New York. The Hawks were dominant throughout the game, with their largest lead of the day being 82-34, and finished strong with a final score of 99-57. The team set a program record for three-pointers in a game, 17 out of 29 from beyond the arc.

Several Hawks contributed to their large margin of victory. Sophomore Emma Daly had a stellar performance with 27 points from 9 three pointers, Senior Caitlyn Abela had 17 points shooting 6 of 8 from the field and Sophomore Michaela Martin had a balanced game with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. The Hawks dominated the shooting game, making 56 percent of their shots while the Mavericks struggled shooting under 28 percent from the field.

The next day the Hawks took on the University of the District of Columbia in a Sunday matinee. This game was a much closer contest with the Hawks leading 26-23 at the half. However, once the second half started it was all Saint A’s. The Hawks began the half on a 15 to nothing run and never looked back the rest of the way. The Firebirds were outscored 20-9 in the third and for the second half 41-2 resulting in a final score of 67-44 giving Saint A’s its second win in two days to begin the year 2-0.

Once again Caitlyn Abela came up large with 20 points and Emma Daly tacked on 17 points respectively. The Hawks defense shut down UDC keeping them under 50 points and below 30% shooting from the field.  Offensively, Saint A’s dished out 17 assists as a team and only turned the ball over 11 times versus the Firebirds 18 giveaways. Sophomore Emma Daly received NE-10 Player of the Week honors after setting a new program record for three-pointers in a game with nine. Over the two games the weekend of Nov. 12 and 13 she went 14 of 26 from deep.

The Hawks team won a pair of non-conference bouts against Mercy and the University of the District of Colombia the weekend of Nov. 12 and 13, outscoring their two opponents 167-101.

The women played Southern New Hampshire University Wed, Nov. 16 for their first road contest of the year. The game was played evenly with both teams trading buckets throughout. Saint A’s was able to take a dozen point lead heading into the final quarter although.

SNHU put up a valiant comeback attempt in the final twelve minutes of the rivalry game. Junior Catherine Stinson hit a pair of free throws for the Penmen with under ten seconds which tied the game at 71-71 at this point.

Candace Andrews scored a game-high 18 points for the Hawks. She achieved the elusive club of 1,000 career point scorers in her career, all in only 15 minutes of gameplay.

The Hawks were able to hold off the Penmen 73-71 after juniors Ali Glennon and Erin Waters each hit one free throw in the last seven seconds.

Saint A’s picked up its first conference victory of the year by winning this game, and plays next Tuesday, Nov. 22 at St. Michael’s College.

This story has been updated.