Erica Beverly achieved a record of 1,000 rebounds in the semi-final game against Stony Brook. (Bettina Hansen/Hartford Courant)

For the first time since 2000, the America East Women’s Basketball Championship game will consist of the top two seeds taking the court.

The No.1 seeded Hartford Hawks will look to close out the America East season unblemished to win their fifth school championship when they host the No.2 seeded Vermont Catamounts on Saturday night at the Chase Family Arena.

Hartford (27-3, 18-0 AE) is currently nationally ranked No.19 in the nation and riding a 20-game winning streak. Vermont made a brief appearance in the Top 25 earlier this season in January.

“We want to play against the best to win a championship,” said junior guard Jackie Smith. “Both teams have had a lot of success this season and in order for us to be the best you have to beat the best.”

The Hawks will play without Beverly, the America East Defensive Player of the Year, in the championship. Beverly tore her ACL on Sunday against the Seawolves when she went up for a layup and was fouled from behind by a Stony Brook guard. In the first half she became the first Hawk in school history to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

The two teams are more than familiar with each other having already played five times in the past two seasons. The Hawks are 4-1 against the Catamounts in those games, the lone loss coming in a 66-56 defeat in last year’s tournament semi-finals.

“Last year in the tournament we were playing not to lose and this year we are playing to win it all,” added Smith. “This is a new year, a new team and a new mindset and we aren’t worried about what happened last year.”

This season Hartford was the only America East team to beat Vermont in Burlington, and they did so in thrilling fashion back on January 26. In a low scoring affair, Hartford pulled out a 38-36 victory when Diana Delva got an offensive rebound and scored the game winning basket with two seconds remaining. Delva, the America East Player of the Year, led the Hawks with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.

In that game Hartford held Vermont guard’s May Kotsopoulos and Courtnay Pilypaitis to a combined 16 points on a combined 7-31 shooting effort. Both players finished the league in the top 3 in scoring, with Kotsopoulos leading the America East with 17.6 points per game. Pilypaitis, the 2007 America East Player of the Year, is also third in the league in rebounding.

The teams faced off again less than two weeks ago in the final game of the regular season. Hartford pulled out a 61-51 victory behind another monster game from Delva. She scored 22 points on perfect 8-8 shooting from the floor and grabbed 10 rebounds. Freshman Ruthanne Doherty added a double-double of her own with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Hawks built their lead to 14 in the second half when Doherty scored in the paint to make it 43-29 with 14:26 to play but Vermont came storming back. A layup by Catamount senior Alissa Sheftic made the score 52-51 in the Hawk’s favor just 2:11 to play.

Diana Delva answered with a layup and a free throw to extend the lead to four, and reserve guard Ilicia Mathis put the game out of reach when she sliced through the Vermont defense and finger rolled in layup with 56 seconds left. The Hawks would score the final nine points of the game.

The Hawks beat New Hampshire 68-35 in quarter-finals behind Delva’s 18 points. Senior Erica Beverly scored 16 points as well. In the semifinals, the Hawks beat Stony Brook 65-43 in a game that saw the Hartford bench players outscore Stony Brook’s entire team with 44 points. The Hawks were led by Mary Silvia’s 17 points.

Vermont rolled past Albany and Boston University in the first two rounds of the tournament. In the semi-finals against BU, Pilypaitis led the Catamounts with 12 points and 16 rebounds.

“There is definitely a healthy rivalry between the two teams,” added Smith, “that will make the game more fun and exciting.”

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.”

BU jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead against the Hawks Saturday, hitting a tournament-record nine first-half 3-pointers. (Adam Manison)

No. 4 seed Boston University hit an America East tournament record nine 3-pointers in the first half and Jake O’Brien added a career-high 28 points to lead the Terriers past No. 5 seed Hartford 87-46 on Saturday afternoon at Chase Family Arena.

The quarterfinal loss ends the Hartford men’s basketball team’s season while BU will move on to play No. 1 seed Stony Brook in semifinal action on Sunday. Although the Hawks were confident entering the game, especially since they nearly defeated the Terriers in February, it was simply not meant to be as BU jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead on 51-percent shooting.

“It’s pretty clear we ran into a great basketball team today,” Hawks’ head coach Dan Leibovitz said following the rout. “They were able to penetrate and find the open man over and over again.”

America East All-Conference Second-Team selection Joe Zeglinski led Hartford with 11 points on the afternoon, but found it difficult to find open looks, shooting 4-13 from the floor.

“It’s no secret, when you play Hartford the number one guy is Joe,” Leibovitz added. “Joe gets everyone’s best defender and game plan.”

Boston University was picked first in the America East preseason poll but seem to be hitting their stride at the perfect time. After an even opening few minutes, O’Brien and Corey Lowe began to pour it on, hitting contested jumpers from seemingly every possibly spot on the floor. Both had a team-high 14 first-half points.

The Terriers used two massive first-half scoring runs to burst open the nearly insurmountable halftime lead. After a long Zeglinski jumper pulled the Hawks within one at 9-8, BU went on a 11-0 spurt over two minutes, including three 3-pointers, two from the senior Lowe.

“They are really talented and we know that if they get started that quickly and they were hitting shots early, it was going to be a long day for us,” said Zeglinski, a redshirt junior with one remaining year of eligibility.

The Terriers were far from done in the opening half. As Hartford crept within striking distance at 27-15 with 8:51 to play in the first half, BU ended almost any opportunity for a Hawks’ comeback as they continued on a 21-5 rampage to close the half.

“There are not too many teams that would have beaten BU today,” said Leibovitz, who guided the Hawks within one victory of the NCAA tournament two years ago. “They might not have lost by the same margin as us, but you’ve seen spectacular performances out there. A guy goes 7-for-9 from three, 9-for-12 from the floor as a guard. Not all of those were open shots.”

After being so close to the team’s first ever postseason bid only two seasons ago, and with many of the same players on the roster, the loss was not an easy one accept.

“It’s disappointing for us as a team,” said junior Morgan Sabia. “It’s disappointing to have our seniors go out like this. It’s disappointing for our fans.”

“Definitely, this is leaving a sour taste in all of our mouths. We’re going to come out hungry and work harder next year.”

The Hartford lacrosse team started off their season with two straight losses, but they rebounded this weekend with a solid win against Siena, and with a loss Wednesday against Brown. With two tough losses to UMass, a top-20 team in the nation, and Delaware, another large school, the Hawks needed a solid win.

The Hawks took on Siena, a team that was not as good as UMass or Delaware, but a team that could pose a threat to the Hawks. The Hawks though, responded well, picking up a much-needed win, and dominating Siena in nearly every category but the score. The 13 goals were a season-high for the Hawks.

This game was not won easily though, as Siena pulled out to a 4-0 lead, and made the Hawks scramble for a win. They constantly chipped away at Siena’s lead, and did not end up leading the contest until deep in the third period. Even after the Hawks put their first goal in, Siena quickly responded back and made the lead four again. The Hawks offense from then on dominated the game, scoring four straight to tie it at 5-5, but Siena wasn’t done as they battled back and went into the third with a 7-6 advantage.

Siena was then able to double their lead with an 8-6 lead, but the Hawks were not done, as they tied up the score after battling hard, at 9-9. Finally, sophomore, Ryan Compitellio gave the Hawks the lead at 10-9, and the Ben Knapton gave the Hawks some insurance, scoring the goal that the Hawks would look back on. The Hawks then proceeded to add two more insurance goals, to cap off the 13-11 win. It was a strong game for Hartford who needed a win.

The Hawks then took on Brown on Wednesday afternoon, falling in an overtime-heartbreaker. The Hawks started off blazing hot, taking an early 5-2 lead, but ended up going into half down 7-6. The Hawks then caught fire once again in the third quarter, taking a 12-8 lead into the fourth and final quarter, but once again the Hawks could not survive.

Despite the 12-8 lead, Brown battled back, chipping away at the Hawks lead. Brown started to offensively dominate the game, and tied the game up at 12-12 after three chance to score the Hawks were wasted. Finally, in overtime, Brown scored the game-winning goal, giving them a 13-12 lead and completed the comeback. Brown very much deserved the win as they out shot the Hawks 53-28 and held a 33-32 advantage in ground balls.

The Hawks return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. against Bellarmine at home.

The America East hosted its annual women’s basketball award banquet and it was the host school Hartford that stole the show.

Diana Delva, Hartford’s leading scorer and rebounder won the 2010 America East Player of the Year award last Thursday.
The Hawks took home three of the four individual awards and had representatives on first team all conference, third-team all conference, the all-rookie team, the all-defensive team and the all-academic team.

Delva averaged 14 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks while shooting 65 percent from the floor. Her field-goal percentage is ranked second in the nation.

“With all the talent in the league this is a big honor,” Delva said while receiving her award. She went on to thank her teammates and coaches.

Senior tri-captain Erica Beverly received the Defensive Player of the Year award. Averaging over 2 blocks per game, Beverly anchored the Hawks defense that finished first in the America East in opponent’s field-goal percentage and opponent’s points per game. With Beverly leading the way, the Hawks 50.5 points allowed per game is the third lowest opponent’s scoring average in the nation.

“Our team has been focused on defense the entire season and this award displays that,” Beverly said.

Jen Rizzotti, who earned her 200th career coaching victory earlier this season, took home her third America East Coach of the Year award. Under her guidance, the 25-3 Hawks have won 18 games in a row while going undefeated in the America East regular season. The Hawks are currently ranked No. 19 in the nation.

Delva and Beverly were both named to the all defensive team and first team all conference. Junior point-guard Jackie Smith was named to the all conference third-team and all academic team along with junior guard Mary Silvia.
Freshman forward Ruthanne Doherty, who has started the past 18 games for Hartford, was selected to the all-rookie team.

Joe Zeglinski won Hartford’s only award at the men’s awards reception. The junior guard was selected to the America East All-Conference Second Team after leading the Hawks with over 16 points per game. Zeglinski was a first-team selection in 2008.