Hartford Extends Home Winning Streak to 33 Games with 73-47 Win Over Women's Basketball

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

West Hartford, Conn. – Diana Delva recorded 19 points and pulled down six rebounds to propel the Hartford Hawks to a 73-47 victory over UAlbany in America East Conference women’s basketball action on Saturday evening at Chase Arena. The Hawks extended their winning streak at home to 33 games, which ranks second in the nation behind top-ranked Connecticut.

Hartford (11-8, AE 6-1) took advantage of five early turnovers by the Great Danes to score eight of the game’s first 10 points in the opening four minutes of the contest. Delva had four of her 11 first-half points during the stretch. Facing an 8-4 deficit, point guard Felicia Johnson entered the game for the first time and led the first Great Dane rally of the opening half. The redshirt freshman stole the ball at midcourt and converted a layup to bring UAlbany within two, while Ashley Lindsay tied the game at 12-12 with 8:53 on the clock when she canned a 20-foot jumper from the top of the key.

The Hawks, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, answered right back by scoring the next four points. After UAlbany’s Tiffanie Johnson drilled a three-point field goal, Hartford built its lead up to nine, 24-15, on a good jumper by Katie Kelley.

UAlbany (3-17, AE 1-6) rallied once again as Kate Cronin took a pass from Kim Clements and converted a layup on a backdoor cut down the left side to make it a four-point game. However, Lisa Etienne made a layup on the other end as time expired to give the Hawks a 26-20 advantage at the break.

Hartford, which shot 57.1 percent from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the line in the second half, used a balanced scoring attack and opened the stanza on a 23-2 run. Britney McGee canned a shot from behind the arc with the Hawks leading by a 49-25 margin, but the Great Danes would not be able to overcome the deficit. The Hartford lead ballooned to as many as 37 points when Amanda Weaver hit a jumper with 4:36 left in regulation before two free throws by UAlbany’s Adrienne Jones sealed the final outcome.

"We had a lot of our young players step up today,” said head coach Trina Patterson. “I think that for Tabitha [Makopondo] to play that type of game and hold her own against the caliber of post play that Hartford has says that our future is bright. I was very disappointed with our guard play. We committed 26 turnovers, which was sloppy. We did not take care of the ball. Our only bright spot was our post play."

Makopondo scored all of her team-best 12 points in the second half and matched her career high with nine rebounds to lead the way for the Great Danes. UAlbany got six of its 23 bench points from Charity Iromuanya while Cronin scored a career-best four points. Delva’s 19 points came on 8-for-10 shooting from the field to pace the Hawks. Erica Beverly added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Ilicia Mathis contributed eight points, four rebounds, and a game-high three steals.