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West Hartford, CT – In her first game back this season, after sustaining a wrist injury, junior guard Mary Silvia led the Hawks, with a career-high 20 points, to a 65-54 victory over the Temple Owls on Saturday afternoon. Hartford improves to 4-1 overall, while handing the Owls their first loss of the season, 5-1.
Along the way to her career-high, Silvia tied a school record for three pointers made in a single game with six, finishing 6-of-9 from long range. She also added a pair of free throws to round out her scoring. Her 20 point outing is the second-straight game the Hawks have had a player hit 20 or more points, the previous was Alex Hall against Dartmouth.
ESPN Article - WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- With just more than four minutes left on the clock in the first half of Saturday's game against Temple, Hartford's Mary Silvia pulled up on the wing in transition, caught a pass from Daphne Elliott and, and in one smooth motion, drained a 3-pointer that left her one short of the team lead this season.
Not bad for someone whose first minutes this season had come about 14 minutes before that field goal, her fifth of the first half from behind the arc. Not bad for someone who suffered a broken wrist in her shooting hand a month ago. Not bad for someone who practiced for the first time since getting her cast off four days before the game.
Behind Silvia's surprising 20 points, 18 of which came on six 3-pointers to tie a program record, Hartford jumped out early on Temple, expanded its lead to 20 points early in the second half and coasted home with a 65-54 win.
A shooter on a roll is always a winning hand, no matter what an opponent is holding.
"I didn't even know the kid was playing," Temple coach Tonya Cardoza lamented after her team's first loss of the season. "But yes, that right there totally changed the game plan for us because we were actually going to look to let them shoot the ball until she comes in the game and starts knocking in 3's. We were trying to pack it in and now our whole game plan changes."
Silvia isn't going to hit six 3-pointers every game, but her career day does say something about the potential of a team that already has quality wins against Louisville and Temple. The Hawks played the Cardinals without Silvia in any capacity and haven't had fellow guard Ilicia Mathis at full strength yet (although she did chip in with two big 3-pointers of her own Saturday). With those two at full strength alongside point guard Jackie Smith and freshman Alex Hall, Hartford becomes much more than just the sum of whatever Erica Beverly and Diana Delva can provide in the post.
"We spent a lot of time this summer talking about running more things for Ilicia and Mary because we felt like last year we were so post oriented that the focus on the defense was there," Hartford coach Jennifer Rizzotti said. "People were playing behind Diana and Bev, so they weren't able to get as many offensive rebounds. And we needed to run stuff that allowed our guards to attack the basket to get post players to rotate, so now you're freeing up our post players to offensive rebound. So it was kind of like this dual purpose, to get them more shots but to give Bev and Diana a chance to do what they're really good at."
In addition to its annual encounter with Connecticut, Hartford has marquee mid-major games left at Marist and at home against Bowling Green before getting to America East play. If not for a slip on the road last week against Providence (itself not an inherently bad loss against an improved Friars team), Hartford might be looking at top-25 consideration. Regardless, even if they continue to fly under the radar, they Hawks are doing the kind of autumn work that can pay off in a big way in the spring.
"This is the kind of teams we want to play," Rizzotti said. "The really good teams in other mid-major conferences that can challenge us, that can show us our weaknesses and give us a chance to really keep building on a solid foundation."
• Temple looked bad in defeat, but it didn't look hopeless by any stretch. Things fell apart against Hartford's defense and Silvia's hot hand, but the talent that helped the Owls beat Illinois and Auburn en route to a 5-0 start was still there. Marshaling that talent rests in no small part on the shoulders of LaKeisha Eaddy, a gifted scoring guard still making the transition to point. Numerous times Saturday she found herself the target of Cardoza's quite audible wrath, evidence a conversion with its share of high points (including 10 assists and one turnover against Illinois, this season alone) remains a work in progress.
"I'm just looking for her to lead and pay attention a little more," Cardoza said. "A few times, you know, in situations like this, all your players get rattled a little bit. But with her being the point guard out there, she can't get rattled, she can't not pay attention and lose focus. And a couple of times she just did things that, you know, I didn't think she was supposed to do.
"But it's a learning process for her. Playing the point guard position in itself is something new to her; every day is a different experience for her. But hopefully she'll grow because if she wants to play at the next level, she's going to have to play the point guard role."
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