Boxscore
NORTH EASTON, Mass. – A pair of Erica Stupinski free throws with 1:12 to play in overtime gave No. 11 nationally ranked Stonehill the lead for good on Tuesday night as the Southern Connecticut State University women's basketball team fell, 65-60, in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Merkert Gymnasium. Senior forward Kate Lynch (Rumford, R.I.) led the Owls with 18 points on the evening. With the loss, SCSU concludes its season at 15-14, while Stonehill improves to 24-4 and moves on to Friday's NE-10 semifinal against either Bentley or American International.
After SCSU took a 4-0 lead to open the game, Stonehill put together a 16-2 run, capped by a Bethany Tighe three-pointer which gave Stonehill a 16-6 lead and forced an SCSU timeout with 10:35 to play in the half. The teams would essentially trade baskets over the remainder of the period as Stonehill took an 11-point lead into the halftime break at 31-20.
Lynch led SCSU with six points and five rebounds in the opening stanza. Freshman guard
Logan Lentz (Chambersburg, Pa.) added five points and four rebounds.
Stonehill's Kelsey Simonds led all scorers in the first half with eight points while Tighe added seven of her own. Erin Gray led all players with seven rebounds at the break while Erika Stupinski dished out seven assists in the first frame.
After Stonehill picked up the first two points of the second half, SCSU went on a 17-4 run over the next seven minutes, featuring seven points from Lynch, to erase the 11-point deficit and tie the game at 37-37 on a pair of free throws by senior guard Michelle Martinik (Monroe, Conn.) with 11:43 to play. The Owls would take their first lead since the opening minutes at 43-42 on a layup by Lentz with 5:40 to play. Stonehill would take the lead back on an Erin Gray layup 21 seconds later. The Skyhawks would maintain the lead until Johnson hit a baseline jumper with 18.6 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 51-51 and force overtime.
The teams would trade buckets over the first two minutes of the extra session to come to a 55-55 tie with 2:58 remaining. Lynch then converted a three-point play with 2:37 to play to give the Owls a 58-55 lead. However, Stonehill would later take the lead for good on a pair of free throws by Stupinski with 1:12 to play. Simonds provided the dagger with a layup which made it a four-point game at 62-58 with 36 seconds to play. Megan Methven iced the game with a pair of free throws with 6.6 seconds to play as Stonehill came away with a 65-60 victory.
Lynch led the Owls with 18 points on 8-for-17 shooting from the floor while Lentz added a career-high 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Johnson added 13 points as well for SCSU. Lynch led the team with seven rebounds while Lentz handed out four assists.
Stonehill's Simonds led all scorers with 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting and was the only Skyhawk in double digits. She also led the team with nine rebounds while Stupinski dished out a game-best 10 assists.
SCSU shot 23-for-66 (34.8%) from the floor, 2-for-21 (9.5%) from three-point range and 12-for-19 (63.2%) from the free-throw line on the evening.
Stonehill shot 24-for-61 (39.3%) from the field, 4-for-17 (23.5%) from behind the arc and 13-for-16 (81.3%) from the charity stripe.
