WORCESTER, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team held nationally-ranked Assumption College to nearly 16 points below its season average on Wednesday, upsetting the Greyhounds, 62-56, in Laska Gymnasium. The Purple Knights had already narrowly lost to a pair of ranked teams this winter, No. 1 Bentley University and No. 17 Franklin Pierce University, by a total of 10 points in November. Assumption entered the night ranked 21st in this week's USA TODAY ESPN poll while turning in 71.2 points per contest.

Now 8-10 overall and 5-9 in the Northeast-10 Conference, the Purple Knights snapped a 13-game losing streak against Assumption, winning for the first time since Dec. 4, 2002. Saint Michael's also broke a 10-contest skid in Laska Gymnasium, leaving with a victory for the initial time since Feb. 7, 1998. The Greyhounds slipped to 13-5 and 10-4, falling for just the third time in 12 home games.

Junior Nicole Adach (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen) notched 17 points for the visitors, shooting 9-of-10 on free throws, while grabbing five rebounds. Senior Coreen Hennessy (Chatham, N.H./Fryeburg Academy) added 15 points, going on 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Purple Knights shot 25-of-33 on freebies, compared to a 13-for-15 effort for Assumption.

Junior Megan Olsen (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) totaled seven points, sophomore Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) pulled down six boards, and senior Samantha Steinmetz (Washington, Conn./Shepaug Valley) had five. Sophomore Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) handed out five assists.

Senior Kelly Meredith (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) led the Greyhounds with 19 points and seven rebounds, and junior Gabrielle Gibson (Amityville, N.Y./Copiague) notched 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench.

Saint Michael's trailed by as many as eight points during the opening half before the teams swapped five leads in the second stanza. Hennessey drained a three-pointer with 11:29 remaining to spark a 5-0 run, giving the Purple Knights the lead for good, and senior Caitlin Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) knocked down a triple of her own at 2:35 to provide the visitors their largest advantage, 58-48.

Gibson netted five points in seven seconds before adding a three-pointer at 1:29 to make it 58-56, but Hennessy grabbed a defensive board and knocked down a pair of freebies with 41 seconds remaining. Adach added two free throws with 17 ticks left.

Assumption scored the first five points of the game, and the Purple Knights tied the game at seven on freshman Morgan Jenkins' (Revere, Mass./Revere) free throw at the 14-minute mark of the first half before the hosts started pulling away. A 15-7 surge pushed the Greyhounds ahead by a 22-14 count at 7:01, when Meredith dropped in her second straight hoop. Five consecutive Saint Michael's free throws and an Olsen lay-in trimmed the Assumption edge to one before the hosts took a 31-28 advantage into the locker room.

The Purple Knights return home on Saturday to face Le Moyne College at 1:30 p.m.