PHOTO GALLERY

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford women's basketball team opened the 2012-13 season cruising to a 64-50 victory over the visiting Loyola Greyhounds on Friday night at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Leading three Hawks in double figures was senior guard Daphne Elliott who finished with 14 points.

For the second straight year the Hawks open the season with an impressive shooting performance, connecting on 44.6 percent of their attempts (25-of-56), including opening the contest making 16-of-29 (55.2 percent) in the first 20 minutes. Joining Elliott in double figures for Hartford was sophomore Amber Bepko with 12 points and senior Nikkia Smith with 10. Junior Alyssa Englert finished one bucket shy of a double figure night with eight points to go along with a game-high six assists

Red-shirt freshman Katie Roth opened up her collegiate career with a team-high six rebounds to go along with seven points and three steals. Roth also started her first collegiate game against the Greyhounds. Elliott would also lead the Hawks with four steals, which also moved her into a tie for eighth place all-time at Hartford (157 steals).

Defensively, the Hawks held Loyola to 36.7 percent from the field (18-of-49) and forced the Greyhounds into 28 turnovers in the season opener. Hartford would turn those miscues into 33 points. The visitors did finish with a 38-31 advantage on the boards, after trailing in that category at the half 18-10. Katie Sheahin led all players in the game with 16 points and was tied for the game-high in rebounds with Steph Smith, both with seven.

After giving up the first bucket of the contest to Loyola's Kara Marshall, the Hawks went on to score seven-straight and extended that to 15 of the next 17. That run allowed Hartford top open up their first double digit advantage of the night 15-4 with 11:45 remaining in the opening half. Included in the second part of that scurry for the Hawks were three-straight jumpers from Smith who came off the bench to hit three of her first four attempts.

After back-to-back three-point plays for the Greyhounds pulled them within five (19-14) Alex Hall answered with the Hawks first three pointer to take a 22-14 advantage into the third media break. Loyola wasn't going to rest, coming out of that timeout with back-to-back layups from Nicole Krusen and Sheahin to pull within four, 22-18.

Following a second four-point margin (24-20), the Hawks went on to end the first half with 12 of the final 14 points taking a 36-22 advantage into the locker room. The Hawks were led at the break by Smith's 10 points, while out performing Loyola in points in the paint (20-14), points of turnovers (15-9), second chance points (6-2) and fast break points (6-0).

Coming out of the intermission, the Greyhounds again went on the attack first scoring a layup from Marshall 23 seconds into the action. That didn't last long as the Hawks went on to scored the next 11 points and extended that to an 18-1 run that blasted open a 52-24 advantage with 13:00 remaining in the contest.

Loyola responded to what amounted to an 18-3 run for Hartford to open the second half by putting together an 8-0 run, but the Hawks answered that with a 6-0 run of their own regaining a 60-33 advantage with 6:21 remaining.

The second half of runs continued as Loyola put together their second of the stanza, scoring eight straight spanning just about two minutes that pulled them within a 60-41 deficit with 4:14 remaining. Their momentum would continue despite a layup from Hall and two free throws from Englert as the Greyhounds would end the game scoring the final six points but it would be too little too late as Hartford went on for the 14 point victory.