Women's basketball loses heartbreaker to Hawks
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Saint Anselm College won a back-and-forth battle with the American International College women's basketball team in Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday, February 7.
AIC fell to 14-10 with a 10-6 NE10 mark after the loss.
Julia Carbonell Munoz hit the game's first bucket, and AIC held the host Hawks without a field goal until over three minutes in, but that shot was for three and was part of a 7-0 run. The Hawks led 11-4 when Nora Young hit a basket, and Taylor Tomlinson scored twice in the final minute of the quarter to get AIC within 11-10.
Kayla Robinson kept the run going with a pair of buckets, the second through contact, in the first minute, sinking the free throw to give AIC a 15-11 lead. The Hawks bounced back, only to have Cierra Highland counter a Liv Robles three with one of her own, keeping AIC on top. The Hawks again wrestled the lead back into their favor, but in the waning moments of the half, Robinson found Carbonell Munoz open deep, and she swished the shot to send AIC to the locker room up 25-23.
The point trading continued into the third, where the Hawks regained the lead by responding to a Robinson jumper with an Alexa Quirolo three. Almost all of the scoring the rest of the way was from the charity stripe, as the Hawks hit the only field goal of the final 4:45 of the period, and led 40-39 through half an hour.
The offensive drought continued into the final frame, with Tomlinson landing a layup from Robinson nearly four minutes in for the first field goal from either side, putting AIC up 43-42. The Hawks hit a three, but Robinson was not denied on the next possession, coming out of a timeout to score a layup to even the score once more. The teams traded free throws through to the final 22 seconds, with Robinson putting AIC ahead 49-48 with a pair. Melanie Hoyt came off of the Hawks bench for the next possession and made a layup with 10 seconds to go to put Saint Anselm ahead, and it was ultimately the winner as AIC's final shot missed the mark.
Robinson's 19 points were the game high; Tomlinson notched a dozen as well as five blocks.
AIC returns to the Butova Gym on Saturday, February 11 to face Le Moyne College at 1:30 p.m.