Newbury Grabs Rebounds and Win Against Raiders

Nashua, NH – The Newbury College Nighthawks won tonight, beating the Rivier College Raiders 82-74 in non-conference women's basketball action. The Nighthawks outrebounded the Raiders 27-19 on the offensive boards and 59-45 overall as 27 second chance points proved to be more than enough to make up for a slow first half by Newbury.

Rivier jumped out quickly to a 9-3 lead, using full court pressure right off the bat to create turnovers and easy buckets, but after a number of offensive rebounds the Nighthawks went on a 12-0 run to grab a 14-9 lead, capped off by a Jasmine Bishop (Waterville, ME) bucket. Freshman Erin Sweeney (Chicopee, MA) gave the Raiders back the lead after a pair of free throws and a fast break lay-up in less than a minute put the home team up 19-16. The lead would be build upon and not given up for the rest of the half as the Raiders would go up by as many as 12 points with just under 1 minute to play in the half. Rivier took a 9 point, 40-31, lead into the locker room and had just about everything going their way.

The second half became the Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, MA) rebound show, as the Newbury sophomore center would grab 16 rebounds in the half and create multiple scoring chances for her and her teammates. Even with O'Connell grabbing all of those rebounds, the Raiders were able to extend the lead to as many as 15 points after a pair of Sarah Howard (W. Greenwich, RI) free throws with 13:37 remaining in the half. Over the next 10 minutes, however, Newbury would chip away at the Raiders lead with timely 3 point shooting and many more offensive rebounds. With 2:21 left in the game, Newbury would reclaim the lead, which they hadn't had since 11:14 in the first half, on a lay-up by junior Shayla White (Dorchester, MA) to make the score 74-73. Over the final minute and a half, the Nighthawks were able to go on a 8-1 run, with a three point dagger by White and 5 points coming on free throws for the 82-74 final.

The Raiders capitalized on turnovers, scoring 32 points to Newbury's 18 off turnovers, and also got more production out of their bench, outscoring the Nighthawks 31-26. However, Newbury was able to produce 27 second chance points on the offensive end, compared to the Raiders 11. After a shaky first half, Newbury shot 44% from the field in the second, outscoring the Raiders 51-34 in the half, including going 6-12 from three point range.

Shayla White, Jasmine Bishop and Kendra Banister (Washington, D.C.) each scored 16 points for the Nighthawks to lead all scorers. Catherine O'Connell added 15 points and grabbed a game high 27 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end. Morganna Machado (Attleboro, MA) chipped in with 11 points and 4 assist.

The Raiders were led by freshman Britney Lane (Waterford, VT) who scored 14 points. Sarah Howard and Erin Sweeney each added 10 points, with Howard grabbing a team high 10 rebounds.

The Raiders, who fall to 1-7, will host Daniel Webster College on Saturday at 1:00 PM in the annual cross town bragging rights game. The game will be broadcast on WGAM (1250 & 900 am) radio. Newbury (2-6) will host Becker College at 2:00 Pm on the same day for their first conference game of the year.