Nighthawks Upset Raiders

For the first time in five years, the Newbury College women's basketball team defeated Rivier College, 62-61, Tuesday evening.  The Nighthawks atoned for last year's 100-48 loss to the Raiders with three players reaching double figures and staved off a second half Rivier comeback attempt to take the one point victory.

The win marked the first time since the 2004-2005 season when the Nighthawks defeated the Raiders 88-61 on January 22, 2005 in Brookline, MA. In the game, four of five starters reached double digits with two of them reaching the 20-point mark.

Newbury came out firing in the first half behind freshman Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, MA/North Quincy) who already recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The highlight of the half was with 3:30 left in to play when O'Connell made a behind the back pass to fellow freshman Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, ME/Waterville Senior) to give the Nighthawks the 26-22 lead. After exchanging baskets with Rivier to end the half, Newbury took the 30-26 advantage into the locker room.

There were eight lead changes in the second as the Raiders mounted their comeback. At the 13:00 minute mark, sophomore Amandra Purcell (Hudson, NH/Alvirne) knotted up the game with a lay-up. Newbury junior Ashley Monteiro (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge Rindge & Latin), who played solid in the win, re-gained the lead hitting a lay-up with nine seconds left on the shot clock. But the Raiders were not going to be outdone. 

Raiders' junior Steph Adams (Nashua, NH/Nashua South) ripped down one of Rivier's 28 offensive rebounds and laid it up for the put back to tie up the contest once again. Two minutes later freshman Mackenzie Brooks (Colebrook, NH/Colebrook) marked a 5-0 run for the Raiders hitting her first of two free throws.

The Nighthawks stayed together and battled tough. After a good O'Connell basket, sophomore Morganna Machado (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) drained a long range trey to cut the deficit to just one. Seconds later, Monteiro hit a three of her own to tie up the score.

Late in the game, with two minutes on the clock, O'Connell found freshman Jalisa Fields (Bronx, NY/St. Michael Academy) for the open lay-up to give the Nighthawks the one point lead. With less than a minute left to play in the contest, the Raiders re-gained the lead on a Brooks lay-up at the other end of the court but the Nighthawks still had a chance.

On defense, Brooks fouled O'Connell and with Rivier being in the bonus, it sent Newbury's leading scorer to the free throw line for a one-and-one situation. With 20 seconds remaining on the clock and down by one, O'Connell netted both her free throws as the Nighthawks held on for the victory.

With the win, Newbury improves to 5-7 while Rivier drops to 12-6 on the season. The Nighthawks will return to conference play on Saturday January 30^th when they travel to Nashua, NH to face a tough Daniel Webster team (11-4; 6-0 NECC) at 1:00pm. 

- Game story by Lindsay Graham - Staff Assistant

- Game photo provided by Samantha Yanofsky