Saint Anselm Rallies in Second Half for 54-43 Win Over Concordia

Manchester, N.H. - Led by 16 points from Epiphany Smith (Springdale, Ark.), the Saint Anselm women's basketball team rallied past visiting Concordia College for a 54-43 non-conference victory on Sunday afternoon at Stoutenburgh Gym. This marks the first 2-0 start for the Hawks since the 2002-2003 season, when the team started 3-0 overall.

The Hawks got off to a slow start and with 10:53 left in the first half and trailed by a 12-4 margin after a basket by Shelley Monahan (Exeter, R.I.). After falling behind by double digits later in the half, the Hawks managed to the cut lead down to 24-18 at the break. Saint Anselm came out flying in the second half and took its first lead of the game just over seven minutes into the period as sophomore Sarah Craft (Lawrence, Kan.) scored her lone basket of the game. The Hawks pushed the lead to eight over the next five minutes and made it a 10-point margin for the first time with 4:25 left after a pair of free throw by Jen Gureckis (Nashua, N.H.).  The lead never got under nine points for the remainder of the game as the Hawks improved to 2-0 overall.

Smith led the Hawks with 16 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while junior Megan Howard (St. Paul, Minn.) also added 12 points and six rebounds. Monahan was the lone Concordia player in double figures as she finished up with 16 points. Chanessa Blakemore (Albany, N.Y.) was the game's leading rebounder with 15 boards.

With the loss, Concordia now sits at 0-2 overall on the season.

Saint Anselm returns to action on Wednesday, November 17th at 5:30 p.m. as Southern New Hampshire visits Stoutenburgh Gym for the team's Northeast-10 Conference opener. That game, along with every Saint Anselm men's and women's basketball home game this season, will be available live online at www.SaintAnselmHawks.tv <http://www.saintanselmhawks.tv/> , with pregame beginning approximately 10 minutes before tipoff.