Women's Basketball Falls To Trinity, 60-55

Hartford, CT --- Behind 14 points and eight rebounds by Trinity senior Shantel Hanniford (Nantucket, MA), the Bantams defeated Worcester State, 60-55 in non-conference women's basketball action on Tuesday evening.

Trinity (2-4) was also paced by junior Hannah Brickley (Melrose, MA) came off the bench to produce 12 points and nine boards while fourth-year Taylor Murtaugh (New York, NY/Bronx Science) tallied 11 points and six caroms.

Senior Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) netted a game-best 17 points with four assists for the Blue and Gold (3-4) while senior Emily Barrett (Dracut, MA) grabbed a contest and career high 12 rebounds for the Lancers.

Sophomore Julie Frankian (Millbury, MA) and junior Kiesha Jones (Worcester, MA/Doherty) both recorded 12 points for WSU in the losing effort.

Trinity held the early 11-4 advantage four minutes into the contest before the Lancers banged four three pointers in a 13-6 run to take the 20-18 edge over with 9:52 left in the opening frame.

As the Bantams nursed the 21-20 score moments later, the Blue and Gold embarked on a 13-5 surge to go up by seven with 4:55 on the clock (33-26), settling for the 38-32 lead at the intermission. Burns scored eight points in the skein that was finished off with a Frankian triple.

Trinity, however, came out of the locker room and connected for eighth of their first 11 field goals to outscore Worcester State, 16-2 over the first six minutes of the second frame. Two buckets at the line by sophomore Mackenzie Griffin (Stamford, CT) gave the hosts the 50-40 margin with 11:08 remaining in regulation.

The Blue and Gold came back and trimmed their deficit to three points with 8:34 left (50-47) and again after a Burns lay-up at the 3:42 mark (56-53).

Following consecutive miscues by the Lancers, the Bantams received a key field goal by freshman Sheena Landy (Durham, CT) with 2:35 on the clock for the 58-53 advantage.

Despite turning the ball over and missing a field goal over the next 90 seconds of play, Jones drained two free throws at the line to make it a three point contest with 1:05 remaining (58-53), but the Bantams ran out the clock and scored the game's final basket on a Hanniford lay-up for the final score.

The Lancers shot a modest 38 percent from the field for the contest (18-for-47) – including a 58 percent line from beyond the arc (8-for-14). WSU, however, made just five of their 19 attempts in the second stanza (26 percent).

Trinity hit 37 percent of their shots for the game (23-for-62) and sank all but two of their attempts from the charity stripe (88 percent – 14-for-16).

The Bantams dominated the backboards (42-32), the paint (34-6) and took full advantage of 19 Lancer turnovers with 16 steals. The hosts scored over one-third of their final margin with a 22-6 edge in points off of their opponent's miscues.

Both squads return to action later this week. Worcester State takes on Wesleyan at 5:30 on Thursdsay while Trinity heads to Anna Maria on Saturday for a 1 o'clock tip-off.

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