COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team suffered its 11th single-digit loss of the season on Tuesday, narrowly dropping a 64-60 contest to Saint Anselm College in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights are now 3-18 overall and 2-15 in the Northeast-10 Conference, while the Hawks moved to 12-10 and 8-9.

First-year Indira Evora (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) led the hosts with 18 points and four steals, and sophomore Makenzie Burud (Red Hook, N.Y./Coleman Catholic) posted 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals off the bench. Senior Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) added nine points and two blocks, with her four rebounds moving her into 14th in school history in career rebounding (574), passing Karen Monahan '92 (572). Junior Maggie Sabine (Litchfield, Maine/Oak Hill/Central Maine CC) notched eight boards, while senior Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) totaled eight points, six caroms and three assists.

First-year Candace Andrews (Boston, Mass./Worcester Academy) paced Saint Anselm with 17 points, five steals and four assists, while senior Tori Lehr (Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset) posted a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Classmate Briana Jones (White Plains, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) notched 13 points and seven rebounds, and senior Allie Jones (South Kingstown, R.I./South Kingstown) collected 12 points.

The Purple Knights forged a 13-point first-half advantage and still led 30-23 on a Long three-point play 1:48 into the second stanza. Saint Anselm edged within one point three times, but junior Kelly Frappier's (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) bucket with 13:10 remaining put the hosts back up by five at 40-35. From there, the Hawks used an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the night, with Andrews scoring seven of the points. After consecutive Lehr hoops made it 50-42, Saint Michael's used a 9-1 run to knot the game at 51 on sophomore Megan Gaudreau's (Brooklyn, Conn./Pomfret School) three-pointer with 3:17 to go.

Five straight Hawk points were countered by a Purple Knight four-point possession at 1:41, with Sabine nailing a jumper and Burud hitting two free throws after being fouled away from the play. Saint Anselm added the next five points, but Saint Michael's created a 60-59 deficit on Deroy's drive at 26.1 seconds and, after two Hawk freebies, Evora hit one free throw at 8.7 seconds to produce a 62-60 game. However, a teammate was called for a lane violation on the second free throw, and Briana Jones hit two ensuing free throws to create a four-point cushion.

The Purple Knights led 4-3 before Evora dropped in five straight points, burying a three-pointer at 15:35 of the opening half to make it 9-3. After the Hawks crept within 11-7, the hosts rattled off 12 of the next 15 points to forge a 23-10 advantage on Sabine's lay-up at 4:33. Six different players scored during the run, which included Saint Michael's holding the visitors to just one free throw and no field goals during a 7:59 span. Saint Anselm was held to a 4-of-23 start from the floor before scoring nine straight points in a matter of 2:29, with Andrews tallying the final eight to bring her team within 23-19 at 1:50. However, Long and Burud scored in the final 1:32, and the Purple Knights took a 27-19 edge into the locker room.

The Purple Knights host No. 1 Bentley University, which is atop the USA TODAY national poll, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The undefeated Falcons have qualified for 30 of the past 32 NCAA Tournaments, including the last three Elite Eights.