BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Women's Basketball team gave the University of New England its first Commonwealth Coast Conference loss with a 62-60 win on Saturday afternoon.
The win for the Hawks' snaps a five-game skid and moves RWU to .500 at 5-5 overall and 2-1 in the conference. The Nor'Easters suffer their first conference setback, falling to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the CCC.
The Hawks were paced by Alexandria Lanieri (Port Jefferson, N.Y.), who led RWU with 20 points and eight rebounds. Hannah Pirez (Bolton, Mass.) notched a career-high 14 points, while Kaitlyn Bovee (Berlin, Conn.) added nine. Paige Congdon (Westwood, Mass.) went for seven points and seven boards with Lisa Lutz (Downers Grove, Ill.) chipping in with seven points and a career-high five steals.
Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) finished with 20 points, six rebounds, and three steals. Margo Russell (Madison, Maine) added 15 points and eight boards, while Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) had ten points, six rebounds, and three steals.
The Hawks' defense kept the University of New England in check in the first half, forcing 14 turnovers in the period while holding the Nor'Easters to 32.0% shooting in the period. On the Hawks' final possession of the half, Bovee doubled RWU's lead with a straight-away three-pointer just inside the half-court line. As a result, RWU held a 32-26 lead going into the break
RWU maintained its lead throughout most of the second half, with Pirez knocking down a jumper at the 13:39 mark to give the Hawks their largest lead of the game, a 49-39 advantage. Yet from that point, UNE would mount a comeback over the next five minutes, scoring 11 straight points. Paradis dropped in a bucket with 8:34 left to give the Nor'Easters a 51-50 lead.
UNE still held a one-point lead with just under three minutes remaining before Lanieri knocked down a pair of free throws to put RWU back on top by one with 1:25 to go. After a missed three by UNE, Pirez came down and hit a baseline jumper to extend the Hawks' lead to three. Paradis would then knock down a pair of free throws after being fouled with 21 seconds left.
The game came down to the Nor'Easters final possession, calling timeout after a missed free throw with 1.7 remaining and trailing by two. A second timeout after a long pass just over halftime set up the final play of the game, a three-point attempt by Paradis. Unfortunately for UNE, the shot did not go down, giving RWU the win.
Roger Williams will next travel to Curry while UNE hosts Gordon, both games on Tuesday.