Wildcats swept in two-game series by combined 10 points
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Ivy Gogolin(Hopkinton, Mass.) set a season high with a game-leading 18 points and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds, but the UNH women's basketball team's late comeback fell short in Tuesday afternoon's 64-57 loss to Hartford in America East action at the Chase Family Arena.
Jada Lucas scored a team-high 14 points for the Hawks (2-2, 2-2 America East), who won back-to-back, tightly-contested games against the Wildcats (1-6, 1-3 AE) by a combined 10 points.
Brooke Kane (Derry, N.H.) finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds and two steals, and Héléna Delaruelle (Enghien-leslBains, France) finished two points shy of a potential second straight double-double (eight points, 10 rebounds).
Final Score: Hartford 64, UNH 57 Records: Hartford (2-2, 2-2 America East); UNH (1-6, 1-3 America East) Location: West Hartford, Conn. (Chase Family Arena) Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2020 Box Score • Postgame Press Conference
HOW IT HAPPENED:
A swarming Wildcat defense forced 22 turnovers and collected 12 steals
First Quarter:
Hartford rode hot shooting to a seven-point lead (18-11) at the end of one.
The Hawks went 7-for-12 (58.3 percent), with Lucas (six points) and Jordan McLemore (four points) leading the way.
Kane went 2-for-2 for four points, and Adara Groman (Hopkinton, Mass.) drained her lone attempt from 3-point distance, but the rest of the Wildcats combined to shoot 1-for-12 in the quarter.
Second Quarter:
After the Hawks built a 26-13 lead with 7:47 left, the Wildcats summoned the energy to score nine straight points and cut the deficit to 26-22 with 5:45 remaining on a jumper from Paige Cote (Sanford, Maine).
A 3-pointer from Delaruelle drew the 'Cats within 28-25 with 5:03 to play, but the Hawks retaliated with a 9-2 run to build a 37-27 halftime lead.
Gogolin went 4-for-4 from the FT line and led UNH with six points at the intermission.
McLemore and Lucas scored nine points apiece to pace Hartford.
The Hawks shot 14-for-25 (56 percent) from the floor and 5-for-7 on 3s (71.4 percent).
UNH was 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) and 9-for-12 (75 percent) at the FT line
Héléna Delaruelle followed her first career double-double Monday with an eight-point, 10-rebound effort Tuesday
Third Quarter:
UNH's defense put the clamps on during the third, holding Hartford to 0-for-6 from beyond the arc while outscoring the Hawks, 15-13.
Gogolin tallied six points in the quarter on 2-for-2 shooting from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line.
Kane chipped in with six points on 2-for-4 shooting from the floor and 2-for-3 from the FT line.
Hartford carried a 50-42 lead into the final stanza.
Fourth Quarter:
The Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to start the period on baskets by Delaruelle and Gogolin followed by two foul shots from Amanda Torres (Hudson, N.H.) to slice the Hawks' lead to 50-48 with 6:22 left.
Gogolin's two made free throws made it 52-50 with 5:44 left.
UNH cut it to 56-55 on Delaruelle's bucket with 2:33 remaining, but Hartford rattled off five straight points and never let it get back to a single possession the rest of the way.
Ivy Gogolin averaged 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in the two games at Hartford
Wildcat Notebook
The Wildcats shot 72-percent (18-for-25) from the free-throw line, with Gogolin (8 of 9) headlining the charity-stripe effort.
New Hampshire outrebounded Hartford, 41-39, which included an 18-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
The 'Cats tallied 12 steals, forced 22 turnovers and held an 18-7 edge in points-off-turnovers.
UNH welcomes Maine to Durham for a two-game series Saturday, Jan. 2, and Sunday, Jan. 3, as part of the Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. Each game will tip off at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
General Comments
"Again, grateful to be on the court, playing the game today. Hartford came out hot guns blazing, lighting it up and I feel like the story of our last couple games was that we just couldn't put the ball in the basket, realistically."
"I'm really proud of our young ladies, though, for making some adjustments, especially at halftime. Being able to switch up our defense a little bit, I think it gave us some good runs.
Mental Toughness
"That's our mentality this year. I talked a little bit about it yesterday, it's improving every single day, but it's the fight. That's our big core value moving forward, too, is just making sure that we're competing every possession, never giving up, and showing fight for 40 minutes."
Looking ahead to Maine this weekend
"We've got to take this game, make some adjustments, continue to grow every single day and improve...We were able to then control the boards a little bit better today. Same thing goes with turning Hartford over a little bit more and, as I mentioned to you before, just really proud of our defensive effort especially with back-to-back games, being able to get up a little bit, pressure a little bit more.
On Héléna Delaruelle
"You challenge the guards to get more involved honestly on the rebounding and on those boards and you have your…5-6 guard getting in there, especially down the stretch with those offensive boards which we need, she's just doing it all. She wants it really badly and she's one of those gym rats that just gets in and wants it and just continues to get better every single day for us, and I think for her, she's doing what we need... I still would like her to be more aggressive, too, and being that scoring threat that we see on a daily basis in practice, too. With her, it's confidence, but I love that she just takes the role on. You ask her to do something, she's so coachable and she just does it."
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