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Recap | Box Score
Five Nighthawks Record Double Digits in Victory
Nashua, NH – The Newbury College women's basketball team took a break from conference play with an 82-74 victory over Rivier College Thursday evening. It was the Nighthawks second consecutive victory over the Raiders after holding on for a one-point win last season.
The offense came alive for the Nighthawks as five players registered double figures in the win. Juniors Kendra Bannister (Washington, D.C.) , Shayla White (Dorchester, Mass.) and sophomore Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, Maine.) led with a game-high 16 points. Sophomore Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass.) followed up with 15 while junior Morganna Machado (Attleboro, Mass.) picked up her 100th assist of her career in addition to her 11 points on the night.
Rivier pressured the Newbury offense out of the gate, creating turnovers, leading to easy buckets as the Raiders jumped out in front 9-3. After a slow start, the offense began to click. Bishop capped off a 12-0 run to give the Nighthawks a 14-9 lead. But it was a short-lived lead.
The Raiders re-gained lead on a pair of free throws and fast-break lay-up, within in a minute, from freshman Erin Sweeney (Chicopee, MA) put the home team back up by three. Rivier held and built upon the lead for the remainder of the half. The Raiders went up by as many as 12 points with just under a minute left in the period before heading into the locker room with a 9 point, 40-31 advantage.
In the second half, O'Connell put on a rebound show, grabbing 16 rebounds – in the half – as well as created multiple scoring chances for her and her teammates. But the Raiders were still able to extend their lead as Sarah Howard (W. Greenwich, R.I) knocked down two free throws with 13 minutes remaining in the contest.
Over the next 10 minutes, however, Newbury clawed away at the deficit with timely three point shooting and many more offensive rebounds. The Nighthawks re-claimed the lead for the first time since 11:14 in the first half on a lay-up by White at 2:21 in the second, to give Newbury the 74-73 advantage.
The victory improves the Nighthawks to 2-7 on the season while the Raiders drop to 1-7. Newbury returns to hard-court on Saturday December 11th in the final game before the start of 2011 when they host Becker College in the second game of a men's-women's double header.
- Game story provided by: Craig Martin, Sports Information Director - Rivier College
- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky
