the Informer

The University of Hartford Hawks women’s basketball team earned three consecutive wins over Thanksgiving break by dominating in-state rivals Central Connecticut State University, traveling to Florida to partake in to the UCF Thanksgiving Classic and defeating TCU and the hosting team.

Most recently, the Hawks overcame invitational hosts University of Central Florida on Sunday to conclude their UCF Thanksgiving Classic, 55-46, and improve their overall record to 5-1 coming out of the break.

On Friday, the day prior, the Hawks began their Thanksgiving Classic competition against TCU in a close game that ended in Hartford’s way, 64-60 and two days before the thanksgiving holiday, on Tuesday, the Hawks hosted and ultimately sent the CCSU Blue Devils home with a loss, 65-56.

Against UCF, Hartford rifled their highest field goal percentage of all three recent matches by making 43% of their attempts from the hardwood, on 22 of 51 shooting. Junior forward Ruthanne Doherty led the team in points with 13 and rebounds with six grabs off the class.

A match where both teams fought evenly with each other throughout the first half comprised of five lead changes and four ties, Cherelle Moore recorded 12 points of her own followed by freshman guard Amber Bepko’s 10 points and Shanise Bultron’s two three-pointers for her six points.

Hartford surmounted a commanding lead that left UCF’s offense unresponsive, until eight consecutive points closed them in on the Hawks.

Bepko interrupted the streak with a Hartford layup as ten minutes remained on the clock. However, UCF responded again with this time, a six-point run.

Hartford counter responded with a run of their own, which of course preceded another UCF run to make the score difference a margin of five.

With a little over a minute left, two pairs of free throws from Bepko and Elliot put Hartford in a comfortable position as they went on to earn the victory.

Junior guard Daphne Elliot scored 21 points total, a career high for the junior guard, and was one of two players to score in the double digits. Doherty, being the other, scored 11 to match her 11 rebounds.

Classmate guard Alex Hall and freshman guard Bepko contributed seven points each while fellow freshman put up six points respectively to round out the score.

The lead changed more than eight times, but the Hawks were able to get the ball rolling after TCU took a five-point lead by coming back with 12 straight points, led by a Doherty layup.

With a little over three minutes left on the clock, Bultron tied the game up with her second three-pointer followed by Elliot’s 5 free throws.

With 38 seconds left on the clock, the score had reached Hartford’s favor to give them their first win off the weekend, by a mere four points.

In the Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion, the Hawks took the lead almost immediately against CCSU, scoring with only 17 seconds on the clock after Elliot and Hall, who ultimately scored 19 points total, found success early on.

Doherty had a stat-filled performance, going 6-12 on shooting and earning 16 points.

Fellow junior Nikkia Smith made her presence known as she had her first double-digit performance on 14 points and Hawk rebounds.

Elliot, Hall and Doherty maintained a 50% average when shooting from the field in comparison to the rest of the team, which only made 37.9% of the shots they took.

Hartford’s reached 14 points at one point, certainly putting the Blue Devils down but not out, who fought back to keep the lead in the single digits on three separate occasions throughout the game, coming as close as six points behind.

However, a late steal by Doherty, again, brought the score up to 65-56 with 23 seconds left on the clock and enough cushion for Hartford to win.

The Hawks will suit up again December 1 to battle Marist away from home in Poughkeepsie, NY at 7 p.m.