BOX SCORE MANCHESTER, N.H. – Led by the its strongest defensive effort in more than three years, the University of New Haven women’s basketball team topped host Saint Anselm, 55-40, on Tuesday evening in Manchester, N.H. Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) was the lone player to reach double figures with a game-best 10 points.
 
The 40 points allowed by the Chargers (7-11, 6-8 Northeast-10) mark the team’s best defensive effort since Jessica Smith’s club limited Le Moyne to 38 points in a 73-38 victory on Nov. 29, 2009.
 
Moore neared a double-double in the contest, supplementing her 10 points with eight rebounds, including seven from the offensive glass as New Haven battled to a commanding 47-30 advantage on the glass.
 
Rykema Stone (Bronx, N.Y./Wings Academy) added nine points and seven rebounds, with Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) adding seven points and seven boards. Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) hauled in a game-best 10 rebounds in addition to six points, and Anh-Dao Tran (Webster, Mass./Holy Name) rounded out the production from the starters with six points of her own.
 
The bench was fueled by Lauren Hebert (North Reading, Mass./North Reading), who netted seven points. Nikita Reddy (Germantown, Md./Germantown) knocked down a pair of three-pointers to accumulate six bench points and Ashley LeBlanc (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) added four in a reserve role.
 
The Hawks (4-14, 1-13 NE-10) were led by nine points off the bench from Curran Leighton.
 
Both team committed 20 turnovers, but the Chargers were the more opportunistic team, claiming an 18-8 advantage in points-off-turnovers.
 
After five scoreless minutes, Leighton scored with first basket of the evening to give Saint Anselm what would prove to be its only lead of the contest. A Reddy triple put New Haven on top and started the Chargers on an 8-2 run. The visitors would open up a lead as large as 12 points in the opening half and headed into the locker room owning a 21-16 lead.
 
The Chargers reclaimed a double-digit lead at 34-24 with 12:08 to go, and the margin was never less than six points the rest of the way as New Haven pulled away for a 55-40 win.
 
Action returns to Charger Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 2 as New Haven hosts Massachusetts Lowell at 3:30 p.m. The River Hawks, who will host Saint Rose tomorrow evening, are current 13-4 overall and 10-3 in the Northeast-10.