the Informer

The Hartford women’s basketball team defeated Stony Brook, 65-43, Sunday afternoon at Chase Family Arena in America East semifinal action and will play Vermont in the conference championship game next Saturday at home. However, the win was a costly one.

Hartford senior forward Erica Beverly injured her right knee with three minutes remaining in the game, falling to the floor and yelling in pain as trainers rushed to her aid. Beverly, the America East Defensive Player of the Year, left the court without putting any weight on her right knee.

On Monday the team announced Beverly tore the ACL and medial meniscus in her right knee and will miss the rest of postseason play. The six-foot senior from Bridgeport, Conn. also tore the ACL in her left knee during her sophomore season.

Hartford Head Coach Jen Rizzotti was visibly upset about the injury, although she said after the game she didn’t see the play.

“My heart goes out to Erica as no one has meant more to this program and its growth than she has,” Rizzotti said in a statement Monday,” “and it seems cruel that she will miss the end of this special season.”

Beverly’s status was originally uncertain, but an MRI Sunday night revealed the devastating news. Beverly is the second leading scorer and rebounder on Hartford behind America East Player of the Year Diana Delva.

While Beverly’s injury is clearly an important issue moving forward, the Hawks bench carried the team throughout the win over Stony Brook. Hartford’s reserves outscored the Seawolves bench 44-0, including 17 points from Mary Silvia and 13 from Daphne Elliot.

“Whenever the shot goes in it feels good,” said Silvia, who leads the Hawks in 3-point field goal percentage. “This season’s really been about everyone stepping up and getting the job done. With my shots dropping, we ended up getting the job done.”

“[Bench production is] something we’ve relied on all year,” Rizzotti added. “We use it to our advantage. We want to wear teams down. We want to take away their legs. So the more subs we can put into the game, the more opportunities we have to run up and down.”

Stony Brook’s Kristen Jeter cut the lead to eight with 5:33 remaining but the Hawks scored 14 consecutive points down the stretch, including some clutch free throws to advance to the championship game.

“It was a physical game all the way around, and the refs were letting things go,” Delva said. “They got me early for a couple of fouls, and took me out of the loop a little bit, but we played through it.”

For the Hawks to continue their 20-game winning streak against Vermont in the Championship Saturday and into the NCAA tournament, Hartford will need to defeat a Catamount team which they have beaten twice already this season, both very close contests.

“I think it’s a great matchup and I’m really excited about it,” Rizzotti said. “I think it’s what’s best for this league. Both Hartford and Vermont have had great seasons all around and have garnered national attention. So I think it’s only fitting that in a year when we’ve had two teams being ranked in the Top 25 that they end up advancing and playing in the final against each other.”