University of Albany Women's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight, Defeating New Hampshire, 78-43 - UAlbany Sports 2013

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Ebone Henry and Lindsey Lowrie each scored a game-best 16 points, while Sarah Royals tied the single-game Division I assist record with 10 helpers, as UAlbany defeated New Hampshire, 78-43, in America East Conference women's basketball action on Wednesday afternoon at SEFCU Arena. The Great Danes welcomed local elementary school students to their home court for the annual Commitment to Education Day. UAlbany scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back. New Hampshire's Cari Reed hit a layup at 15:18 to cut the Great Dane advantage to two, 10-8, but that would be as close as the Wildcats would get for the remainder of the game. From that point, UAlbany scored nine of the next 11 points, building up a 19-10 advantage on a 3-pointer from Henry with 12:35 left to play in the first half. Henry gave the Great Danes their first double-digit lead of the game with a pair of free throws at 9:58, putting UAlbany ahead, 23-12. New Hampshire's Stephanie Spoto cut the lead back to nine at 7:35, but Lowrie nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 15-0 run for the Great Danes. The Wildcats ended the run with two free throws from Kaylee Kilpatrick at 3:42, but Lowrie sank her fifth trey of the half two minutes later to put UAlbany up, 41-16, with 1:42 on the clock. Shereesha Richards scored the final points of the half with a free throw with a second remaining to send the Great Danes to the locker room with a 42-20 lead. UAlbany came out just as hot in the second half, as Julie Forster and Henry sank the first two buckets of the stanza. Royals, who had seven assists at halftime, scored her first points of the game with a bucket from the charity stripe, putting the Great Danes up, 47-20, with 17:31 to play. UAlbany continued to extend their advantage, getting up by 32 points, 61-29, at 9:04 on back-to-back baskets and a free throw by Richards. After Reed nailed two free throws to cut the UAlbany lead back to 28 with just under seven minutes to play, the Great Danes scored eight of the next nine points to build up their biggest lead of the game, 73-35, with just over four minutes to play. New Hampshire managed to cut the deficit to 34 on two free throws by Elizabeth Belanger at 1:30, but Keyontae Williams nailed a 3-pointer as the clock dropped under one minute. Jilliane Friel closed out the scoring with a pair of shots from the charity stripe to set the final score. Richards finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four steals for the Great Danes, while Forster added eight points and seven boards. UAlbany shot 52.5 percent (31-59) from the floor, and outrebounded New Hampshire (6-10, AE 1-3) by a 45-25 margin. UAlbany, which improved to 13-3 overall and 4-0 in league play, will return to action on Saturday, hosting Hartford in a conference matchup at 2 p.m.