The Monmouth University women's basketball team dropped their second straight Northeast Conference road game in the state of Connecticut on Monday afternoon when they fell to Quinnipiac 69-57 in Hamden. The loss drops the Hawks record to 9-7 and 3-3 in NEC play, while the Bobcats improve to 10-5 and 4-2 in conference play.

Monmouth trimmed the Quinnipiac lead to seven at 63-57 following a Brooke McElroy (Chesterfield, Md./Thomas Dale) baseline jumpshot with around a minute and a half remaining, but couldn't pull any closer.

The Hawks were led by Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach), who scored 15 points with 11 coming in the first half, and pulled down eight rebounds. Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) added 12 points for Monmouth in the loss.

The Hawks fell behind 11-4 early on, before rallying to cut the Quinnipiac lead following a Randolph three-point field goal. MU would fall behind by double digits in the first half before trimming the lead to 36-31 at intermission. The Bobcats shot 51.9 % in the first half while the Hawks only shot 30.6 % in the opening stanza.

The second half went back and forth with MU closing the lead to single digits on many occasions, but was unable to get any closer than six. The Bobcats hit 14-of-17 free throws in the second half to pull away when Monmouth was forced to foul to prolong the game.

Erin Kerner led four Bobcats in double figures with 17 points, while Courtney Kaminksi and Brianna Rooney each scored 14 points.

Nyaimah Ware (Washington D.C./Dunbar) added nine points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals while McElroy scored all seven of her points after halftime.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday, January 20 when they travel to Central Connecticut State for a 2 p.m. tip in New Britain, Conn.

Pictured: Junior Veronica Randolph