COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team chipped a 16-point deficit to six late during an eventual 55-44 loss to regionally-ranked Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Ross Sports Center. The Penmen were fifth in this week's D2CSC East Region poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (5-15, 1-13 NE10), Southern New Hampshire (13-5, 11-3 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Paige Slaven (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven Regional), 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
• First-year Ruby Santos (New Paltz, N.Y./Kent School), 7 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, 5 steals
• Senior Jaxson Nadeau (Wakefield, Mass./Tilton School), 7 points
• First-year Amber Furch (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood School), 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Adrianna Timberlake, 21 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 9-for-17 field goals
• Senior Jess Knight, 20 points, 18 rebounds, 10-for-15 field goals
• Sophomore Meghan Gordon, 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks

GAME NOTES

• The Purple Knights notched 11 steals on 16 Penmen giveaways while committing only 12 themselves.
• The Purple and Gold bench outscored the visitors', 18-2.

THE ACTION

• Sophomore Julie Lyden (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) knocked down a long jumper before first-year Bella Franchi (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie Central) capped a 5-0 spurt with a three-pointer that gave her team a 9-5 lead at 2:46 of the first quarter, the first two-possession advantage for either team to that point.
• Knight had six points in an 8-0 counter, and her lay-in at 7:21 of the second period made it 17-11.
• Timberlake's driving basket pushed the lead to 25-17 with 2:07 left before the visitors took a six-point edge into halftime.
• Timberlake scored six points to key a 13-2 third-quarter run, which pushed the Penmen lead to 40-24 with 2:37 to go.
• The visitors still led 48-36 on Knight's jumper with 5:06 left in the fourth before Slaven put home three straight baskets in a matter of 1:53, halving the deficit by 2:28. Her lay-in still had Saint Michael's within 51-44 with 1:12 to go.
• Southern New Hampshire missed a pair of ensuing free throws, but Knight pulled down her 18th and final rebound on the second failed try, and the visitors salted the game away with four freebies in the final 1:03.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at regionally-ranked Pace University, 1:30 p.m.
• The Setters are sixth in this week's D2CSC East Region poll.