Team Effort Leads Women’s Basketball Past New Hampshire, 76-68

Sunday, November 24

Durham, N.H.

1:00 PM

Brown University

3-3,0-0Ivy League

New Hampshire

2-4,0-0America East

Brown

New Hampshire

Team Effort Leads Women’s Basketball Past New Hampshire, 76-68

11/24/2019 3:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.H. – Senior guard Justine Gaziano scored 17 points, and junior guard Dominique Leonidas netted 14 points as Brown University women's basketball defeated the University of New Hampshire, 76-68, on Sunday afternoon at Lundholm Gymnasium.

The Bears (3-3) used a 16-3 run in the fourth quarter to upend the host Wildcats (2-4), turning a 63-60 deficit with 7:55 to play into a 76-66 lead with 17.5 seconds remaining. Brown came back from a 13-point deficit in the second quarter and held a 61-4 advantage in bench points.

"It's our best win of the year because of the mental adversity of playing so poorly at UMass on Thursday," Brown head coach Sarah Behn said. "Our team showed me some mental tenacity today. We got down by 13 and fought back. That's what we need – to be able to handle the ups and downs."

Gaziano (Natick, Mass.) netted her 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting alongside five rebounds. She now has 525 career field goals, moving into seventh place in school history in career field goals and passing Liz Turner '98 (524). Gaziano scored in double figures for the fourth time this year and 72^nd time in her career.

Leonidas (Stone Mountain, Ga.) scored five points inside of the final minute as part of a 14-point, six-rebound effort. She scored in double figures for the third time this year and seventh time in her career.

Junior guard McKenna Dale (Storrs, Conn.) posted 12 points and six rebounds for her second game this year in double figures. Sophomore guard Maddie Mullin (Wellesley, Mass.) notched eight points, hit 2-of-4 3-pointers, and dished out two assists.

Freshman guard Sydney Rosant (Foster City, Ga.) registered six points and four rebounds, freshman guard Lexi Love (Oakland, Calif.) added five points, two assists, and two steals, and freshman forward Dani Short (Aliquippa, Pa.) posted four points, four boards, and two assists.

Sophomore guard Traiva Breedlove (Rochester, N.Y.) chipped in six points, and senior center Haley Green (Salem, Va.) tacked on four rebounds.

"I'm really proud of us having 61 points from our bench compared to four for UNH," Behn said. "That says it all. It was such a collective effort. Everyone did good things on both sides of the ball. This was a much, much better level of competitiveness and leadership compared to three days ago."

For the game, Brown held advantages in bench points (61-4), points off turnovers (24-4), and points in the paint (40-28) with a total of 10 Bears entering the scoring column. In the fourth quarter, Brown held UNH to 2-of-15 shooting (13.3 percent).

In the first quarter, a pair of jumpers from Rosant, baskets from Love and Leonidas, and a 3-pointer from Gaziano kept Brown within 14-11 with 3:24 to go in the stanza. Despite four points from Leonidas and a layup from Gaziano, UNH took a 26-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After the Wildcats took a 32-19 edge early in the first quarter, Brown responded with an 18-4 run and outscored the hosts 22-6 over the rest of the frame. Short started the run with a layup before Love knocked down a wing 3-pointer. A trey from Dale capped a 10-2 stretch that brought Brown within 34-29 with 5:05 to go in the half. Four straight points from Breedlove gave the Bears their first lead at 37-36, and a 3-pointer from Gaziano provided Brown a 41-38 lead at halftime.

In the first half, Brown held advantages in points in the paint (24-12) and points off turnovers (17-2) as 10 different Bears scored. Brown committed just four turnovers, while forcing UNH into 11 giveaways.

The two teams played within one possession of one another for the entire third quarter. A 3-pointer from Mullin pushed Brown ahead 48-46 with 6:10 to play in the period prior to Dale convertin a layup to give the Bears a 58-57 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

After UNH pulled ahead 63-60 at the 7:55 mark of the fourth quarter, the Bears scored seven straight points behind a 3-pointer from Mullin, layup from Gaziano, and two free throws from Mullin, moving ahead 67-63 with 6:12 to play. The Wildcats trimmed the lead to 67-65 before Brown used a 9-1 run to gain a 76-66 edge with 17.5 seconds left.

Short started the run with a layup through contact before Gaziano and Leonidas both netted baskets, making the score 73-66 with 40 seconds remaining. Leonidas then hit 3-of-4 free throws inside of the final 30 seconds.

For New Hampshire, Ashley Storey posted a double-double on 24 points and 13 rebounds, Ivy Gogolin notched a double-double on 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Caroline Soucy netted 13 points.

Next, Brown hosts Merrimack on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+) and Holy Cross on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+/NESN).

Video of all Brown women's basketball home contests and all Ivy League games, home and away, will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Tickets for all Brown women's basketball games can be purchased online, by calling the Brown Athletics Ticket Office at (401) 863-2773, or by walking up to the box office located in the Pizzitola Sports Center, open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.