Catch Mary on NESN Twice Next Week!

Hartford returns from a 10 day road trip to face the Quinnipiac Bobcats at Quinnipiac on Wednesday December 3rd at 8:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NESN along with Hartford's next home game vs. A10 Power St. Joseph's on Saturday Dec 6th at 1:00 p.m.

The girls are looking forward to getting home and sleeping in their own beds. Practicing at home should help the the team get back on track with their offensive execution. With all the long-range shooters in a mini-slump the Hawks have had to step up their defense to keep up their winning ways. We're hoping for an offensive explosion in the next few days although winning on the road is always tough, even just up the road at Quinnipiac.

Hawks Close Out 10 day Road Trip at GWU Saturday

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

After an amazing upset victory over Duke in the first round of the DePaul Invitational Tournament an exhausted and beat up Hartford lost the championship game to a well-rested DePaul on their home court.

Friday's win over Duke (ranked #5 nationally) was all heart and hard work as the Hawks held Duke to only 4 points over the first ten minutes, and 17 points in the first half. Duke never led in the battle coming closest in the final seconds. The final score was 53-51 Hartford, only the second time in two years that Duke has scored less than 52 points. They currently average 87.5 points per game. The large contingent of Duke fans in attendance watched the game in stunned silence while all 15 Hartford fans made McGrath arena sound like the Cameron Field House.

After Hartford's win, Duke dropped to #13 in the polls while Hartford received 27 Top 25 votes.
A win in the championship game on DePaul's home court would surely have propelled Hartford into the top 25. It was not to be however. DePaul's coach made it clear that his team (coming off a 40 point romp over Southern in the first round) was well-rested and would run all night. Hartford was able to keep up for 36 minutes but ultimately ran out of steam at the end giving DePaul an 70 - 61 victory.

It's unfortunate that the girls didn't have much time to savor the Duke win. After the game it was right back to the hotel to watch DePaul film followed by an early shoot-around and pre-game meal before the championship game. Following the DePaul loss, the girls were dejected, but we hope as time goes by that they will once again be able to appreciate and savor the Duke upset.

Following the DePaul game, it was off to Ohio State to play another ranked team (#18) on their home court. The Buckeyes were hungry after losing to #20 Auburn in their last game and took it out on the Hawks. Ohio State's size advantage in the post was the story of the night as the Hawks fell 83-65.

After their whirlwind tour of Columbus, Ohio the girls then boarded yet another flight to Washington DC for the George Washington Invitational Tournament on Friday 11/28. In a must-win game the Hawks beat Big South champion Liberty 45 - 35 in one of the uglier offensive games you will ever see. But in true Rizzotti fashion, the win proved once again that great defense can win games even when the offense isn't there.

Hartford moves on to the championship game Saturday at 5:30 against the winner of the George Washington/U Southern Alabama first rounder. Normally the home team in these tournaments arranges it so they are in the final so we assume we'll be playing GWU tomorrow.

After GWU it's a 6 hour late-night bus ride home, but as far as these girls are concerned, they can't get on that bus soon enough. Unlike last year's Hawaii road trip, this one was about 50 degrees colder with no time for surfing or late-night luaus.

Trip Summary -

Game 1 at DePaul - Hartford 53 Duke 51 Game Story & Box Score
Game 2 at DePaul - DePaul 80 Hartford 71 Game Story & Box Score
Game 3 at Ohio State - Ohio State 63 Hartford 45 Game Story & Box Score
Game 4 at GWU - Hartford 45 Liberty 35 Game Story & Box Score

Hawks Headed to Chicago to Face Duke

After a second straight pummeling of a visiting opponent (Hartford 69 - Providence 50), the Hawks are off on a 10 day road trip to face some slightly better competition. The team leaves Thursday at 10:00 a.m. and arrives in Chicago around 1:00, just in time for lunch on the bus then a practice at DePaul. Friday at 5:00 the Hawks face #6 ranked Duke followed by a second round game on Saturday against either DePaul or Southern.

Shortly after the 2nd game, the team leaves for Big Ten country to face #18 Ohio State on Tuesday November 25th at 6:30 p.m. The game can be seen on the Big Ten Network (for those of view who have FiOS or subscribe via Comcast.

Then the girls jet off to Washington DC for Thanksgiving and a second tournament at George Washington University. Complete schedule and media coverage can be found here.

This is an unprecedented string of 5 road games in 8 days against nationally-ranked opposition.

Sue and I will be travelling with the team to Chicago and will stay an extra day for sightseeing. If anyone has any restaurant recommendations, I'm all ears.

Old Friends (Continued)

Former NE Breeze teammate and Winchester High School standout Jenni Bandi is playing basketball at the US Air Force Academy.We can't imagine where she finds the time to play Division 1 basketball, keep up with classes and handle all the demands of a service academy, but if anyone can do it it's Bandi.

You can follow AFA basketball using the link at the right.

Hawks Romp in Season Opener

Hartford WOMEN 73, Dartmouth 40

Hartford Opens With A Rout

By LORI RILEY |Courant Staff Writer

November 16, 2008

Diana Delva said the Hartford post players worked hard to contest Dartmouth's shots Saturday afternoon. Dartmouth made only three shots in the first half. "I guess we did a pretty good job," Delva said.

Coach Jen Rizzotti agreed. She called her team's defense tremendous after the Hartford defeated Dartmouth 73-40 in the season opener in front of 1,522 at Chase Arena. It was the Hawks' 27th consecutive win at home, the longest streak in the country.

"Our defense set the tone for the game," Rizzotti said. "At this point in the year, I feel that this is probably the best defensively we've ever been."

Hartford led the America East Conference in defense last year, allowing 53.9 points a game, so that's no surprise. What was a little surprising was how much offense the Hawks generated after losing top scorer Danielle Hood.

Delva, a junior center, led the way with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting and played only 18 minutes. Sophomore guard Mary Silvia shot 6-for-8 and had a career-high 12 points in 19 minutes. Hartford, which shot 31 percent from the three-point line last season, hit seven three-pointers. None came from top three-point shooter MaryLynne Schaefer (0-for-3).

"The biggest difference in our offense this year is that we have more weapons," Rizzotti said. "Last year, Amanda and Mary were freshmen and they had limited opportunities. We really pounded the ball in the post. "This year, we tried to be more balanced. We can score on the blocks but we're going to be much more dangerous from the perimeter."

Hartford led 15-9 early before blowing the game open with a 13-0 run midway through the first half. Dartmouth, led by Brittney Smith's 11 points, trailed 40-14 at halftime, and shot 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) in the first half. The percentage improved to 28.6 (8-for-28) in the second half, when Rizzotti cleared her bench. Dartmouth also had 27 turnovers.

"We've been working on our defense a lot in practice," said Etienne, who had 10 points and four assists. "I think we were just so excited about playing, all of that just came together today."

Hawks Open Season Saturday 11/15

Hello again everyone. UHA opens this Saturday at 2:00 at home against Dartmouth. We are expecting a challenging 08-09 season with games against 3 of the top 10 teams in the country (UConn, Duke and Louisville) and 3 more top 25 teams. The Hawks are feeling the disrespect having been picked to finish 2nd in the America East Conference after 4 consecutive first place finishes. In the preseason coaches poll Vermont was picked to finish first, but they'll still have to come to Chase Arena for the America East Championship in 2009.

There will be plenty of opportunities to catch the Hawks on television this year, with 5 or more games on NESN, one on CSN and one nationally televised game on ESPN2 with Marist. In addition, every game will be broadcast on WWUH radio. Although their signal is weaker than a walkie-talkie, you can listen live on their web site at http://wwuh.org/

An excellent resource for Hawks info, schedules events and photos is the recently redesigned Hartford Hawks Flight Zone Fan Club site at http://www.flightzone.org/.

And coming up Friday, 11/14 on NESN at 9:00 PM is the always exciting Jen Rizzotti coaches show. Each episode features different players and you can usually get a glimpse of Mary during various segments. Is it worth staying home for or TiVo'ing? Well with outstanding production values and compelling storylines it's quality TV at it's best. So good in fact, it will be repeated several times until both viewers watch it.

Upcoming schedule can be found in the links at left and includes a Tuesday (11/18) night game at home vs. Providence followed by a weekend Tournament in Chicago where the Hawks face Duke (8) in the first round.

While we're at it, let's catch up on some former teammates who have moved on to play college ball. It's hard to believe all these kids played together on the same teams and all have succeeded in moving to the college game. You can follow any of these friends using the college links at left.

First there's our all-time favorite Carolyn Crampton who is entering her second season at Vassar. Carolyn had a great season as a freshman including a 15 point effort against Skidmore where she drained 5 three pointers.

Then there is our old buddy Kristen Finn of the early years at the Melrose Y. Kristen is a freshman at Bates and is playing for Jim Murphy, one of the best coaches around. She'll be joining former Middlesex Stars Val Beckwith of Woburn and Lauren Yanofsky of Belmont on the team. We wish Kristen the best and hope to see Bates at Tufts later this year.

Kristen's baby sister Courtney who also played with us at the Y is a senior at Winthrop High this year and has already committed to play at Bentley next year. She'll be looking go deep in the MIAA tournament once again this year.

Then there's our former AAU teammate Becky Bowman now playing at Babson. Becky was always an exciting player to watch and is keeping up the tradition at Babson.

Finally there's former Reading basketball and volleyball standout Meredith Gent, now playing Volleyball for Providence College. Even though this is officially a basketball site, we're cutting some slack here. We saw Meredith at a basketball game last year and she assures me that when she is not practicing or working out she is spending all her time in the Library.

We are still trying to track down Ashley Rivera who we know is playing somewhere.

Hawks Host Second Annual Fan Fest

The University of Hartford hosted the second annual Fan Fest for men’s and women’s basketball on Sunday. The Department of Athletics opened the doors to more than 500 people for a chance to interact with members of the team’s.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams open their home schedules on November 14 and 15. The men’s team hosts in-state rival Quinnipiac on Friday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m., while the women host Dartmouth on Saturday, November 15 at 2:00 p.m. Prior to the women’s home opener the Hawks will honor the success of the 2007-08 team by raising a banner to the rafters. Fans can purchase season tickets or individual game tickets by calling the Athletics Box Office at (860) 768-HAWK (4-2-9-5).