Hens hold on to beat UNC Wilmington

Their lead nearly slipped away, but the Hens were able to hang on to beat UNC Wilmington 63-59 Thursday night in a Colonial Athletic Association women’s basketball game at the Bob Carpenter Center.

With score tied and 58 seconds left in the game, junior guard Tesia Harris hit a jumper to put Delaware up by two. A missed shot by the Seahawks and two free throws by Harris sealed the victory for the Hens.

The Hens led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Seahawks went on a scoring run in first four minutes of the second half that cut the Hens lead to 3. UNC Wilmington eventually tied the game on a Kelsey Reitz jumper with 7:51 to go in the game.

But Elena Delle Donne grabbed control of the game, and the Seahawks never took the lead. The redshirt freshman forward scored 12 points in the final 8 minutes of the game, including two 3-pointers.

“I started getting angry -- I didn’t like the way the game was going.” said Delle Donne who finished the game with 29 points.

“We came out like zombies in the second half,” she added.

Lack of consistency in the second half has been a problem for the Hens, who in their last game, saw a 13-point lead over Northeastern get whittled down to one before Delaware rallied to pull out a victory.

“We need to slam the door,” said head coach Tina Martin. “We haven’t been doing that. You can’t give people opportunities because sooner or later, some one’s going to step up and grab it from you.”

The team played well in the first half, Martin said, but in the second half were sluggish on defense and didn’t move the ball well.

“Whatever water or Powerade we had at halftime, I think I’m going to change it,” she quipped. “If they drank red, I’m going to go with orange, because something has to change.”

With the win, Delaware improved to 11-4 overall, 3-1 in the CAA and is currently in third place in the CAA, behind Virginia Commonwealth and James Madison. UNC Wilmington dropped to 6-9, 1-3.

The Hens had lost to the Seahawks in their three previous meetings, though they have an all time record of 11-6 against the Seahawks.

“I’m really happy we won, but we have a long way to go still,” Martin said.

On Sunday, the Hens will host Drexel at 2 p.m.

“It should be a whale of a game,” Martin said. “They’re the defending champions, they’re coming to our home court, and we better be ready because I’m sure they’re ready.”
 

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