NEW LONDON, Conn.  – No. 9 Amherst College used a collegiate career-high 26-point effort from Jayde Dawson '18 to help lift the Purple & White to a hard-fought, 88-86 victory over Connecticut College in Saturday afternoon's NESCAC men's basketball game at LeFrak Gymnasium.

RECORDS
Amherst (15-0, 3-0 NESCAC)
Conn. College (13-2, 3-1 NESCAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Leading 20-15 following 10 minutes of play, Amherst outscored Conn. College, 24-11 to post a 44-26 lead at intermission, and fended off a 19-12 run by the Camels in the third quarter to pull away to the 72-61 win.
• Hackley netted a new collegiate career-best with a game-high 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting from three-point range. She also pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds and registered a pair of steals. Marley Giddins '16 connected on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor en route to 20 points, while Jaimie Renner '17 added 10 points.
• Meredith Doswell '17 added nine boards, while Ali Doswell '17 chipped in eight points and six assists. The Purple & White shot 41.1% from the field and 70% from the charity stripe in the winning effort.
• Mairead Hynes led Conn. College with 16 points off the bench, while Liz Malman and Kylie Caouette contributed 12 and 10 points respectively. Hynes and Payton Ouimette totaled eight and six rebounds respectively to lead the Camels who were held to 39.7% shooting from the field.
  

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• A bucket by Malman at the 8:55 mark started the scoring for the game and gave Conn. College its largest lead of the contest as Jenna Lovett made a jumper following an Ali Doswell trey to make it 4-3 in favor of the Camels.
• Trailing 16-13 with 1:03 to play in the opening stanza, Hynes delivered a basket in the paint to pull Conn. College to within one at 16-15, but a Renner layup, followed by a pair of Hackley free throws lifted Amherst to a 20-15 lead after one quarter of play.
• In the second frame, Giddins converted a pair from the foul line with 4:39 to play to give Amherst a 32-22 lead before a jumper by Hynes narrowed the lead to single digits. That's as close as the Camels could get the rest of the way as Giddins made a layup to start a 10-0 run by the Purple & White to close out the quarter and give the visitors a 44-26 lead at intermission.

 SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

• Amherst extended its halftime lead to as many as 23 early in the third session when Giddins made a layup, Meredith Doswell made one of two free throws, and Ali Doswell swished a pair from the free throw line to give the Purple & White a 49-26 lead.
• Caouette halted the run with a strike from beyond-the-arc that started a 10-3 run by the Camels capped by a pair of Hynes foul shots to pull Conn. College to within 16 at 52-36 with 4:26 to play in the period. Conn. College then scored nine of the last 13 points to claw back to within 11 at 56-45 after three periods.
• The fourth quarter featured 16 points scored by each team, highlighted by eight from Hackley, as Amherst was able to close out its 11-point win. 

UP NEXT

• Amherst is back in action Tuesday, January 19 when it travels to Farmingdale State for a 4 p.m. non-league contest. The Purple & White posted an 83-23 victory over the Rams earlier this season (Nov. 22) during the opening weekend action.
• Conn. College travels to Bates College Friday, Jan. 22 for a 7 p.m. NESCAC meeting at 7 p.m. in Lewiston, Maine.