(Albany, N.Y.) – Despite a game-high 29 points (12-of-18) by forward Tierra Hawkins, and guard Raven Bankston pouring in a career-high 28 points (10-of-21), the Albany Great Danes (5-0) remained undefeated Sunday afternoon with an 87-71 victory over the Delaware State Lady Hornets (1-3).
To begin the game, DSU jumped out to a 7-4 lead with 4:03 gone by, as Bankston scored five points during that span. The Lady Hornets later made it an 11-4 ball game, until the Great Danes ripped off nine answered points to take a 13-9 lead.
The Lady Hornets, however, answered with a 9-0 run of their own, capped off by a Bankston jumper at the 8:29 mark. The freshman out of Detroit, Mich. also drained a three during the sequence, whereas Hawkins chipped in with four points.
As the half progress, the story of runs continued as the Great Danes closed the period on a 12-4 run in the final 3:28 to take a 37-33 lead into the locker room.
At intermission, UAlbany's Shereesha Richards led all scorers with 16 on 6-of-8 (.750) shooting from the floor, while guard Erin Coughlin tallied nine points (4-of-5), including draining two buckets from the beyond the arc.
In the case of DSU, Bankston poured in 15 points on 50 percent (6-of-12) shooting, including 66 percent (2-of-3) from three, whereas Hawkins chipped in with 14 points on a blistering 7-of-9 (.778) shooting from the field.
After halftime, Bankston pushed her point total to 17 after scoring the first bucket of the period, but the Great Danes went to on to score 11 of the next 16 points to take their biggest lead of the game, 53-42, after a three by guard Margarita Rosario with 15:22 left in regulation.
The rest of the way, Albany never looked back as Lady Hornets failed to cut the deficit to seven, as the Great Danes shot 72 percent (16-of-21) from the field, 50 percent (2-of-4) and 94 percent (16-of-17) from the line throughout the stanza.
For the game, Richardson finished with a team-high 28 points (11-of-14), to along with six rebounds and three steals, while Margarita tallied 21 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. Margarita also was perfect from the free throw line (10-of-10) and beyond the arc (3-for-3).
Hawkins for DSU, on the other hand, finished with five rebounds, three steals and three blocks to go along with her 29 points. Before fouling out, Bankston added two rebounds, three assists and two steals to her output, along with a career-high 28 points.
The next best scorer for the Lady Hornets was forward Deanna Harmon with six points, who only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble.
Coming up, the Lady Hornets will head to the Big Apple to face the Manhattan Jaspers this Tuesday at 4 p.m.
