Purdue Fort Wayne (3-6, 0-0 Summit) – 46
Monmouth Hawks (1-4, 0-0 MAAC) – 60
 
SAN DIEGO, CA – Leading from wire-to-wire, the Monmouth University women's basketball team earned its first win of the season over Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, 60-46.
 
Redshirt sophomore Jen Louro (Wall, NJ/St. Rose/UMass Lowell) scored a career-high 24 points in the win, going 8-16 from the floor and 6-13 from deep.
 
Senior Akilah Jennings (San Jose, CA/Presentation/UC Santa Barbara) added eight points and a career-high eight rebounds, while senior Sierra Green (Queens, NY/Francis Lewis/Monroe CC) netted nine points.
 
A strong defensive effort saw Monmouth held the Mastodons to 17-52 (33%) from the floor, including 5-26 (19%) from three.
 
Monmouth improves to 1-4 on the season, and will travel to #24 Arizona on Monday night.   
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"This trip is helping us find ourselves, and we need contributions from everybody. We had a lot of players ready to contribute today, and that's a tribute to our character as a team. We're just trying to learn to play 40 minutes." - Monmouth head coach Jody Craig
 
-Monmouth took a 2-0 lead on Louro free throws before the game even started. The Mastodons were called for technical due to an equipment violation.
-The Hawks eventually jumped out to a 7-0 lead, forcing Purdue Fort Wayne to call a timeout with 7:40 left in the first.
-By the end of the first quarter, Monmouth doubled up at 12-6. The Hawks forced the opponent to shoot just 2-13 (15%).
-Monmouth led by as many as 11 twice in the second quarter, once after a Louro triple and once after back-to-back Green jumpers.
-For the second consecutive quarter, the Hawks held the Mastodons to single digits. At halftime, Monmouth led 24-15.
-The Hawks scored the first six points of the third quarter on layups from sophomore Alexa Wallace, Jennings, and Louro. Purdue Fort Wayne called a timeout, down 30-15.
-Five straight points from Green made it 38-16 late in the third, but the Mastodons answered with an 8-0 run.
-Louro drilled a straightaway three at the buzzer, and Monmouth led 45-28 at the end of three.
-The Hawks used a 7-0 run in the middle of the fourth to go ahead 57-34. Purdue Ft. Wayne outscored Monmouth 12-3 from that point, but the Hawks held on for the 14-point win.
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-For the first time this season, Monmouth rolled out the lineup of Jennings, Wallace, Louro, senior Adriana Zelaya, and senior Alexa Middleton.
-Monmouth forced Purdue Fort Wayne to start 0-6 from the floor.
-The Hawks held an opponent to its least amount of first-half points since February 10, 2017 (13 at Saint Peter's).
-Freshman Destiny Jackson scored the first four points of her career on two free throws and a layup.
-Wallace, Zelaya, and Ndao all grabbed five rebounds.
-Monmouth went 8-10 from the free throw line.
-The Hawks held a 43-26 rebounding advantage, including 20-6 on the offensive glass.
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks will travel to Tucson to face #24 Arizona on Monday night. Tip is set for 8:30 PM EST.