WESTON, Mass. – Led by Amanda Hawkesworth's (Abington, Mass.) team-best 20 points and Brittany Stone's (W. Bridgewater, Mass.) 15, the Regis College women's basketball team's win streak improved to six games as the Pride defeated New England Collegiate Conference opponent Daniel Webster College 75-63 on Saturday afternoon on Higgins Court. With the victory, the Crimson and Gold remain atop the NECC Standings with a 6-1, 3-0 mark and the loss drops the Eagles to 1-6, 1-2 NECC.
Hawkesworth was double teamed every time she got the ball down low in the post by the Eagles swarming defense. The junior captain remained calm as she was fouled repeatedly which led to a 10-of-13 (77%) performance from the charity stripe. Stone added 15 points and converted 5-of-5 free throws.
Daniel Webster started out strong in the early going building up two separate eight point leads, which was the Eagles largest advantage of the contest. Senior guard Ashley England (Old Town, Maine) converted a jumper to give DWC their first eight point advantage and Amanda Dargie (Melbourne, Fla.) hit a layup from teammate Briana Diggs (Washington, D.C.) to regain the lead back to eight. Regis responded by outscoring the Eagles 6-2 over the last 3:31 of the period with newcomer Maura Russell (Braintree, Mass.), junior Mikayla Murphy (Attleboro, Mass.) and freshman Abby Cuddy (Charlestown, R.I.) making driving layups to cut the deficit to two, 18-16 at the end of one.
The Pride used a 10-4 run midway through the second stanza to gain back the lead. Amanda Hawkesworth scored eight of Regis' 10 points during the run doing most of the dirty work inside. She used her post moves to draw fouls and tallied four of the 10 points from the free throw line. Throughout the rest of the quarter both squads exchanged points, but Regis headed into the intermission with a 37-33 lead.
Ashley England was unconscious during the first half as she led all scorers with 14 points on 7-of-9 (78%) field goal shooting. Abby Cuddy was the leading point getter for the Crimson and Gold as she tallied 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting while also converting four freebies.
The hosts outscored the guests 22-9 in a crucial third period that saw a four point lead increase to a game-best 17 point advantage. Hawkesworth did most of her damage in the third quarter as she scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds. The game's deficit didn't reach single digits the rest of the way as the Pride women kept the foot on the gas in the final quarter and clawed past the Eagles.
Four of five Regis starters scored double figures. Shannon Hayes (Billerica, Mass.) added 11 points and came down with seven rebounds. Alyssa Lanpher (Princeton, Mass.) scored 10 points, snagged six rebounds, handed out five assists and made two steals. Abby Cuddy almost secured her first ever double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. Mikayla Murphy dished out a game-high six assist and corralled five rebounds.
Ashley England went 10-of-14 (71%) from the floor and scored a game-high 25 points. Desiree McGee (Spring Hill, Fla.) tallied 12 points while Briana Diggs had nine points and eight rebounds.
Regis returns to action in about a month when they welcome St. Joseph's (Maine) to campus on January 2nd, 2016 for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off with the Monks.