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West Hartford, CT – Another streak lives on for the Hartford women's basketball team, as the Hawks down the #19/23 Louisville Cardinals 62-50 on Tuesday night at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. The Hawks improve to 2-0 on the season, while Louisville drops to 1-1 overall.
Louisville becomes the third ranked team to fall victim at Chase Arena with Brigham Young and Michigan State meeting the same fate. Hartford defeated BYU 60-43 on December 2, 2006 and Michigan State 54-51 on December 22, 2007.
Hartford's defense was a key to victory as senior Erica Beverly guided the Hawks offense with her second-straight double double and the 26th of her career with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The post finished 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 at the free throw line, while also adding a two steals, a block and an assist.
Joining her in double figures were a pair of her Connecticut counterparts, Diana Delva and Ilicia Mathis who both also finished with 14 points. Delva finished the game shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line, while finishing one rebounds shy of a double double for the second-straight game.
Mathis shot 4-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from long range, while hitting four of her 10 free throw attempts. Delva added three steals and Mathis two to a Hawks total 13 steals, the second game in the row the Hawks have finished with double digit steals as a team.
Louisville only held the lead twice in the game, both in the early minutes. The Hawks quickly took control of the game after the Cardinals biggest lead of two, on a three pointer from Mathis with 17:15 remaining in the first half. The Hawks extended that lead to as much as nine before the Cardinals would score, and Hartford would never look back.
The Hawks took a 12-point lead into the break, 32-20, after leading by as much as 14 in the first 20 minutes. Leading the way for Hartford in the first half was Mathis with eight points, while Beverly finished with seven points and six rebounds.
Louisville whittled the lead down to as few as nine points with 4:42 to play, but the Hawks answered back by extending the lead back to 13 within the next two minutes, securing the victory with an Alex Hall three pointer with 2:49 to play.
Hartford free throw shooting, which struggled throughout the game, led to nine points in the final two minutes. Delva put the game in the books with a pair of free throws with 38 seconds remaining, which didn't allow a three pointer from LaToya Johnson with 29 seconds to play to make a difference on the outcome.
For the game, the Hawks shot 36.4 percent from the field (20-of-55), including a 42.9 percent effort in the first half (12-of-28). The Cardinals shot a better field goal percentage for the game, 27.3 percent (19-of-51), but were forced into 25 turnovers, which the Hawks converted into 24 points. Becky Burke led the Cardinals and all players in the game with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Hartford's defense also held Louisville to just one three pointer in 10 attempts.
The Hawks will play their next two games on the road, the first on Friday night at Big East foe Providence at 7:00 p.m. The Hawks will then take on the perennial Ivy League champion Dartmouth on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in Hanover, NH.
