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Erika Stupinski has averaged 10.7 assists in her last three games. |
Manchester, N.H. - No. 11 Stonehill went down to the wire with a tough-nosed St. Anselm squad, but two key second half runs pushed the Skyhawks to a 63-57 win to clinch their first outright Northeast-10 regular season championship since the 1994-95 season on Tuesday night at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) had game-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds for Stonehill, which won their tenth straight game.
The Hawks came out charged up, opening up a seven point lead less than five minutes into the game. They maintained the advantage for basically the entire half, with their lead growing to as many as nine at 21-12 with a little under 10 minutes left.
St. Anselm took 13 more first half shots than the Skyhawks, as they forced 14 turnovers, including seven steals.
Stonehill struggled offensively in the first 20 minutes as well, as they failed to score on back-to-back possessions until nearly 13 minutes had elapsed in the game.
All that changed in the second half when the Skyhawks opened the half on a 9-0, to take a 36-33 lead.
The game was tied four more times until Simonds ran off five straight to give the Skyhawks a 51-46 lead, an advantage they would never relinquish.
St. Anselm would get as close as one on two more occasions, but each time - once on a three-point play from junior Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames) and the other on a Simonds layup - Stonehill had an answer.
The Skyhawks held a 36-25 edge on the boards, including 11 on the offensive glass.
Stonehill made 44 percent of its shots for the game despite going just 4-for-20 from behind the arc.
Simonds scored 19 points in the second half and was 8-for-12 from the field in the game, to go along with a 9-for-9 performance from the charity stripe.
Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine/Mount Ararat), who is coming off of a 13-assist display in her last outing, dished out 10 more in the win along with six points, six rebounds and five steals.
Tighe added 11 points and seven rebounds for Purple and White, who got nine points and four assists from sophomore Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y./Corning Painted Post-East).
The Skyhawks finish the regular season at 22-4 and 19-3 in the Northeast-10, one game ahead of second place Franklin Pierce.
With the No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout the upcoming Northeast-10 Championship secured, the Skyhawks will have a week off before playing in the Northeast-10 Quarterfinals next Tuesday evening.
