BATON ROUGE, La.-- The Hartford women's basketball team fell in the second round of the NCAA Championship, 63-39, Monday night to No. 2 Texas A&M at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. The Hawks, a ten seed in the tournament, won their first round game against Syracuse and finished the season with a 28-6 record.
Hartford fell behind early in the game as they watched Texas A&M go on a 10-0 run to lead 19-7 at the 10:25 mark. Junior guard Lisa Etienne snapped that run with a fast break jumper at 9:47 to bring the Hawks within 10.
Turnovers plagued Hartford through the first 20 minutes of play, committing 12 in the first half alone. The Hawks also had a scare around 8:30 when senior forward Danielle Hood went to the bench with an apparent ankle injury. Hood returned to the game minutes later, though.
The Aggies' 34-19 lead at halftime was the largest deficit for the Hawks up to that point. Hood and Etienne led Hartford with six points apiece, while Texas A&M's Danielle Gant posted 11 points in the first frame.
Three pointers, which spurred the Hawks to their win against Syracuse two days earlier, did not fall for Hartford against the Aggies. Hartford went 0-for-6 from beyond the arc in the game. The Hawks shot 34% from the floor to Texas A&M's 45%.
Gant added 10 more points in the second half to finish with 21 points in the game. Hood finished with a team-high 13 points for the Hawks, while sophomore Erica Beverly posted a game-high 11 rebounds.