Saint Anselm women’s basketball kept their streak rolling to open up the season, downing Assumption College on the road Saturday 75-61. The win marks their fourth in a row right out of the gate of their 2018-19 campaign.

Previously, the Hawks had picked up wins against Dominican College, Bloomfield College, and Franklin Pierce University in order. The team won their first three games by a combined margin of 108 points. Junior forward Shannon Ryan led the team the first two games in points with 20 and 18 respectively, while sophomore guard Peyton Steinman put through the team-high 13 against Franklin Pierce.

Taking on the Greyhounds in a Northeast 10-Conference Match Saturday, the two teams traded blows early on, before Assumption went on a 10-0 run to close out the opening quarter. The Hawks entered the second quarter trailing 18-13 but battled back to tie the game 23-23 midway through the quarter. After Assumption grabbed a three point lead on two separate occasions, Saint A’s responded both times with threes of their own, coming from Steinman and senior guard Ashley Briggs. They closed out the first half on a six-two run and entered the locker rooms up by four, 35-31.

The Hawks came storming out in the second half, and just three and a half minutes into the third quarter, the team led 44-34. Each team held their own for the much of the remainder of the quarter, but a pair of late layups by Assumption cut the gap to 51-47. Saint Anselm held the home team in check the rest of the way however, and after outscoring the Greyhounds 24-14 in the final quarter, they came away with the 75-61 victory.

Saint A’s shot 25-53 (47.2%) from the field and 4-11 (36.4%) from beyond the arc, while Assumption posted a 23-56 (41.1%) and a 4-19 (21.1%) in those respective fields. Assumption just grabbed the rebounding edge with 34 boards, one more than the Hawks, while dishing out a total of 15 assists to the Hawks’ 11.

Ryan and Steinman once again led their squad with 54 points between the two of them. Ryan led the pack with 23 points, and was a rebound shy of a double-double, hauling in nine boards. Steinman was right behind with 21 points of her own and came away with seven steals.

Ryan’s stellar play this season earned NE10 Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honors on Monday. Her 57 rebounds is the second most of any player in NCAA Division II and she ranks seventh in the division in points per game with 16.8. Her hot start to the new season comes off the heels of a year in which she became the first ever student-athlete at Saint A’s to reach 500 points and 300 rebounds in a single season.

4-0 on the year and 2-0 in the conference, the Hawks head home for a NE10 contest with Stonehill on Tuesday.