Skyhawks Claim Tournament Title With 13th Straight Win

Easton, Mass. - Behind Tournament MVP Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) and a double-double effort from Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine), top-seeded Stonehill raced past sixth-seeded Bryant, 90-79, to lay claim to the Northeast-10 Tournament Championship title in front of a raucous crowd of 1,152 at Merkert Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

The win for the Skyhawks is their 13th in a row and gives them the Northeast-10's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament Championship. The tournament title is Stonehill's fifth overall and first since 1998. It also marks the fourth straight season that the Northeast-10's regular season champion has gone on to win the postseason tournament title.

The Skyhawks opened the game on a 17-4 run but three straight three-pointers from Bryant's Kelsey O'Keefe had the Stonehill lead down to four at 17-13, as she went on a personal 9-0 run.

The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes until Stonehill embarked on a 15-1 run to bump their advantage up to 39-22. With Simonds in first half foul trouble, the Skyhawks went to freshman Amada Smith (Penacook, N.H.) and she provided four points in the spurt that was capped by back-to-back triples from Stupinski and Ashley Caiafa (Massapequa, N.Y.).

A 13-3 Bryant run trimmed the Stonehill lead back down to seven and the Skyhawks entered the half with a nine point edge, 47-38, despite getting only seven minutes from Simonds who was 4-for-4 from the field in her brief first half appearance.

As they did for most of the game, the Bulldogs made a run cutting the lead down to four at 54-50, and as Stonehill did, they always had an answer. A quick 6-0 burst put the advantage at 60-50 on a Simonds turnaround, but Bryant then ran off 12 of the next 16 to get as close as that had been all day at 64-61 with a little less than nine minutes left.

The Skyhawks methodically built the lead back again, however, as Simonds scored their next eight points and Stupinski the following seven to push the lead back to double digits at 79-67 with five minutes left.

Bryant made one final push to get to 79-72 with 3:53 remaining, but the Skyhawks made nine of their final 10 free throws and Stupinski found McWhirter cutting along the baseline for the game's final basket and her 11th assist to end all hopes of a Bulldog comeback.

Stonehill shot 50 percent from the field and had 18 assists attached to their 26 baskets. After a 7-for-14 showing from the line in their semifinal win over Bentley on Friday, the Skyhawks made 30-of-33 from the charity stripe, including 17-of-18 in the second half.

Bryant, meanwhile, connected on only 37 percent of their attempts and committed 20 turnovers.

Simonds, who made her first eight shots, had 22 points, five rebounds and five blocks, while Stupinski finished with a career-high 23 points to go along with her 11 assists and three steals. Sophomore Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.) chipped in 13 points and Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) provided six points and six rebounds.

O'Keefe scored a game-high 27 points before fouling out and Lynne-Ann Kokoski fell one assist shy of the tournament record of 13 helpers, as she dished out 12 before being disqualified.

The 26 wins recorded by the 2007-08 squad is the third most in a single season in school history, only behind the 27 wins posted by the 1986-87 team that made it to the regional finals, the 1993-94 team that made it to the Elite Eight and the 1994-95 team that advanced to the Final Four.

Ranked, No. 10 in the country, Stonehill will learn its NCAA Tournament destination at 10:30 p.m. when the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Committee releases the 64-team field.