BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Women's Basketball team kicked off the 2012-13 campaign with a convincing win over Wheaton College Thursday evening, defeating the Lyons by a 68-43 score.

The Hawks were paced by Lisa Lutz (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Kaitlyn Bovee (Berlin, Conn.) with 13 points apiece. Lutz added seven rebounds while Bovee grabbed eight. Alexandria Lanieri (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) scored 12 points with seven boards, while Abby Marsh (Manchester, Vt.) added eight points and four boards off the bench.

Jana Jagodzinski (Old Greenwich, Conn.) finished with a team-high ten points for Wheaton. Abbie Brickley (Sandy, Utah) almost finished with a double-double, going for eight points and nine rebounds. Emily Romans (Easton, Mass.) and Jorden Mitchell (South Berwick, Maine) each chipped in with five points and two boards off the bench.

Wheaton held control early with Kiley Shoemaker (Fayetteville, N.Y.) knocking down a shot for an early 2-0 lead. The Lyons maintained the advantage for the first six minutes of the game before Elizabeth Kilzi (Waverly, Pa.) put in a pair of free throws to tie the game at 11. Rachel Chuckran (Bridgewater, Mass.) hit two freebies herself at the 13:20 mark to give RWU a 13-11 lead.

Those four points helped kick off a 10-0 Hawk run to put RWU on top by eight. From that point on, Roger Williams would never look back, with Angelica Ariola (Prospect, Conn.) giving RWU its largest lead of the half with a jumper at the 4:45 mark to put RWU up 23-12. The Hawks would eventually go into the break leading by nine (27-18).

Wheaton fell behind by 11 again early on in the second half but would cut it back to seven (24-31) on a layup by Brickley with 16:24 to go. A 15-4 Hawk run quickly ended the Lyon comeback, putting RWU on top 46-28 with 11:04 left in the game. Roger Williams' lead would never drop below 18 from that point on, coming away with the 25-point win.

Roger Williams (1-0) hosts Smith College on Saturday at 6:00 p.m., while Wheaton hosts Lesley Saturday at 2:00 p.m.