Go Roger, Beat Salve: Hawks land first CCC victory against rival Seahawks
After being selected third in the Commonwealth Coast Conference preseason polls, the Hawks entered their first CCC run of the season at 2-3.
Head Coach Kelly Thompson expected the tough schedule to prepare her team for conference play, but was unfortunately wronged by two back-to-back losses to Western New England and University of New England to double their losing streak.
Their most recent non-conference game was against Rhode Island College. The Hawks fell 63-48.
“This was a winnable game,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t respond.”
RIC took a very early lead that RWU could not catch. Though, the Hawks shortened the gap in third, at the end of the quarter RIC’s three-point buzzer beater was too much for them to come back from.
“We just have to do a better job trusting the process,” Thompson said.
However, not all losses represent the team accurately.
UNE and WNE are the two teams that were chosen to ride above RWU in the preseason polls.
According to Thompson, RIC is a very physical team. While RIC did rack up 18 personal fouls on the game, UNE became a close second when they had 15 fouls called knocking junior captain Gabby Jerahian to the ground more than five times in the second half.
“We came as prepared as possible,” senior captain Sam Leone said. “We just need to learn from our mistakes.”
Leone led the team with 18 points — 12 from second half three-pointers — and had six rebounds.
Leone was also the team’s leading scorer in their away battle at WNE with 17 points. As a whole, the team had a field goal percentage of about 35 percent.
Even with an injury bringing her to the bench in their game against Rhode Island rival, Salve Regina University, Leone kept her high scoring streak with 13 points. The Hawks were able to pull out a win against the Seahawks moving them to sixth in the CCC.
“Get better tomorrow. It’s tough for these guys to know we were so close and then lose, but I think they can see how much better we’re getting each game,” Thompson said. “There’s no time to be sad. We need to come ready to go.”
