New Haven, Conn. – Mariah Hankton scored five straight points to break the final tie of the contest as Southern Connecticut State University recorded a 76-64 win over the Le Moyne College women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Moore Field House.

Senior guard Alex Marple (Covington, Pa./Wellsboro) led the Dolphins offensively with a career high-tying 25 points. After tallying 12 points in the first half, including six from the foul line, she recorded 13 points in the second half, only one of which came from the foul line. It's the second game this season in which she has reached double digits in each half (Molloy was the other). She set her career high of 25 points in a 74-64 win over Saint Rose on November 22. She is the first Dolphin to record a pair of 25-point games in a season since Courtney Coryea '10 recorded three 25-point contests during the 2010-11 campaign and she is just the third Dolphin to do it in the last 13 seasons.

Jackie Beathea led the Owls in the victory with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, 14 and six of which she posted in the first half. Hankton finished the contest with 13 points, while Sydni Lester and Taylor McLaughlin each scored 11 points.

After junior guard Vandell Andrade (Cranston, R.I./St. Mary's-Bay View/Rhode Island College) scored five consecutive points in a span of 46 seconds to tie the score at 52 with 8:42 left, Hankton converted a fast-break lay-up with 7:49 left to give the Owls the lead for good. Following an offensive rebound by Nicole Grossbard, Hankton buried a three-pointer from the left wing to force a Le Moyne timeout.

The Dolphins got a lay-up from senior forward Bath-Sheba McMahon (Queens, N.Y./Grambling Laboratory (La.)/Weatherford College) out of the timeout, but Southern Connecticut followed with a 12-2 run to blow the game open. Off a Le Moyne turnover, Grossbard recorded a conventional three-point play and McLaughlin followed with a free throw 34 seconds later. After an Andrade lay-up made it 61-56 with 3:33 to go, Grossbard fed McLaughlin for a lay-up and a three-pointer in a span of 34 seconds to put the Owls up by double figures with 2:44 remaining. Grossbard made a foul shot with 1:57 left and Lester hit two with 1:28 to play to give the Owls a 13-point advantage.

The Owls closed out the game by going 7-for-10 from the foul line over the final 68 seconds, led by a 3-for-4 performance by McLaughlin.

Southern Connecticut State, which has won its last four games to get to 5-4 on the season, started the game with the first six points in the opening two minutes. Beathea made two free throws, Lester made a lay-up and Danielle Powell followed with a lay-up to force a Le Moyne timeout.

The teams then traded points over the next 7:10 as Southern Connecticut's lead bounced between two and six points. Five players accounted for Le Moyne's 15 points in the span, led by four points each from McMahon and junior forward Maggie Brown (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland). Beathea and Grossbard each had four of SCSU's 12 points.


After senior forward Tessa Pucello (Syracuse, N.Y./Solvay) pulled the Dolphins within three with a three-pointer with 11:00 left in the first half, the Owls scored seven straight points in a span of 1:55 to take their first 10-point lead of the afternoon. Beathea made a lay-up, Chandler Williams followed with a three-pointer to force a Le Moyne timeout and then Hankton had a fast-break lay-up off a steal.

The Dolphins got within five (33-28) with 2:43 left in the half after Marple made five free throws in a span of 47 seconds, but Williams nailed another three-pointer and Beathea had a pair of lay-ups around a free throw and lay-up by Marple to give Southern Connecticut a 40-31 lead at halftime.

Le Moyne exploded out of the gates in the second half with 14 of the first 16 points over the opening 5:37 to take its largest lead of the game. McMahon started the scoring with a lay-up, Marple followed with a jumper and then senior guard Maddie Hahesy (Erie, Pa./McDowell) countered a Hankton jumper with one of her own to make it 42-37. After a turnover by the Owls, Marple started a personal 6-0 run with a lay-up with 16:49 left. She added another 28 seconds later and then gave the Dolphins the lead with a jumper with 15:16 to play. Senior forward Emily Greer (Corry, Pa./Corry) put Le Moyne in front 45-42 with a lay-up off a feed from Marple at the 14:23 mark.

Following baskets by Powell and Beathea gave the lead back to the Owls, Marple converted a lay-up with 12:02 left to give the Dolphins their last lead.

Southern Connecticut regained the lead on a jumper by Hankton and McLaughlin and Beathea followed with baskets for a 52-47 lead, which preceded Andrade's 5-0 run to knot the game at 52.

Le Moyne (6-3, 2-3 NE-10), which swept the Owls last season after dropping the previous nine meetings and 19 of the previous 20 matchups, ventures into non-league play on Tuesday at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia at 6:00 p.m. The matchup is one of 91 this season between Jesuit institutions and the ninth of 46 women's games between Jesuit institutions.