MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team dropped its Northeast-10 Conference opener on Wednesday, 62-44, at undefeated Southern New Hampshire University in SNHU Fieldhouse. The Purple Knights are now 1-2 overall, while the Penmen are 3-0 after also beginning their league slate.

Senior Coreen Hennessy (Chatham, N.H./Fryeburg Academy) notched 15 points and three assists for the visitors, while junior Nicole Adach (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen) had 12 points behind a 6-of-9 shooting performance in addition to six rebounds. Senior Samantha Steinmetz (Washington, Conn./Shepaug Valley) had a career-best eight points, hitting all three of her field goal attempts, while sophomore Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) snagged a personal-high 11 rebounds while swatting three shots. Classmate Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) added five assists.

Senior Megan Smith (Smithfield, Maine/Skowhegan) led the Penmen with 12 points off the bench, junior Sloane Sorrell (Berwick, Maine/Noble) had 11 points and five steals, and senior Christine Duffy (South Boston, Mass./Archbishop Williams) totaled eight points and eight assists.

Adach's jumper knotted the game at 15 with 8:33 remaining in the opening half, when the teams played through four lead changes. A Hennessy three-pointer put the visitors on top, 18-17, at 6:36 before Southern New Hampshire went back in front for good 22 seconds later. Another bucket by Hennessy later trimmed the Saint Michael's deficit to 21-20 before the Penmen used an 8-0 run to pull away, eventually leading 36-27 at the half.

Hennessy converted a three-point play 54 seconds into the second stanza, bringing the Purple Knights within six, but nine consecutive points by the hosts sparked a 12-2 run, putting Southern New Hampshire up by a 48-32 count with 8:26 remaining. Saint Michael's was only outscored 14-12 the rest of the way.

Saint Michael's hosts the DoubleTree Tip-Off Classic on Saturday and Sunday, beginning play with its home opener against Queens (N.Y.) College on Saturday at 2 p.m.