Bepko’s 16 points were not enough to secure the win. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com
The University of Hartford women’s basketball team lost to the University of New Hampshire Wildcats 76-71 in overtime on Sunday.
With the loss, the Hawks have dropped their last three games, all of which were against teams in the America East conference.
The Hawks already played the Wildcats once during the season, which resulted in a loss.
Neither team managed to gain a major lead through the majority of the first half as the lead bounced back and forth with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage at any given time.
With a little more than five minutes left in the half, Hartford broke the 19-19 tie off of a three-point shot from freshman guard Morgan Lumb.
Freshman guard Deanna Mayza picked up an assist off of the shot.
The Wildcats responded by going on an 8-0 run which ended with a score of 29-25 in their favor with about a minute and half left in the first half.
This included two three-point shots from the Wildcats by senior guard Kelsey Hogan and senior guard Sarah-Marie Frankenberger.
The Hawks went on a 5-2 run to end the half, being down by one point with a score of 31-30.
The second half started off in a similar manner as the first had. The score went back and forth several times before the Hawks managed to build on a two-point lead to take their largest lead of the game up to that point with a score of 47-39 off of a 9-0 run.
The Hawks managed to maintain their lead through the final seconds of the game at which point the Wildcats managed to tie the score at 62-62, which sent the game into overtime.
Hartford managed to take the lead at the beginning of overtime off of two straight baskets.
Junior guard Amber Bepko scored first off a layup which was soon followed by a jump shot from senior guard Alyssa Englert, which came after the Wildcats scored two consecutive free throw shots which left the score at 66-64 in Hartford’s favor with a little less than four minutes left in overtime.
The Wildcats then went on a 8-0 drive to take a six-point lead with less than a minute left on the clock.
Hartford junior forward Cherelle Moore managed to cut the deficit to four points off of a layup with less than 30 seconds in overtime.
The Wildcats managed to hold Hartford to three points through the end of the game to get the win. Lumb and Bepko each scored 16 points over the course of the game.
Senior forward Milana Gilbert scored 11 points while Moore scored 10.
With the loss, the Hawks record falls to 6-6 in the America East conference and 9-16 overall for the season.
The Hawks will continue play on Wednesday at home at 7 p.m. against the UMass Lowell River Hawks.
The Hawks won their previous game against the River Hawks which a final score of 80-76.