FAIRFIELD, CONN. (January 20, 2014)—Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.) led the Sacred Heart women's basketball team to a 77-59 victory over the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils Monday night with the first 20-point game of her career. The red-shirt sophomore was one of four Pioneers to reach double-digit scoring as Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo.) (13), Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) (12) and Gabrielle Washington (Mesa, Ariz.) (12) also accomplished the feat. With the win, SHU improves to 7-10 on the season and 4-2 in Northeast Conference play.
After CCSU opened the game with a triple from Kaley Watras, the Pioneers answered with a nine-point run featuring three consecutive baskets from inside the paint from Kimmel.
The Blue Devils rallied later in the half to cut SHU's lead to just two points with a Babe jumper forcing the Pioneers to call a timeout with exactly nine minutes on the clock.
Even though CCSU kept it a close game, Sacred Heart continually fended off the Blue Devils tacking on an 8-3 run, with all eight points scored by Caitlyn Abela (South Easton, Mass.), to close out the first half with a 32-25 lead.
After being held scoreless in the first half, Washington got her first points of the game on a fast break to open second-half scoring.
A three from Washington gave Sacred Heart its largest lead of the night, 21 points, 47-27, with 8:43 left. The Pioneers continued to hang on to a substantial lead throughout the remainder of the game.
Sacred Heart continues NEC play next weekend when they host Wagner on Saturday and Bryant on Monday.
