Hartford 60, Brigham Young 43

12/2/2006 3:06 PM

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -Sophomore guard Lisa Etienne scored 13 points and Hartford handed No. 23 Brigham Young its third loss in five games, 60-43 on Saturday.

Etienne scored five points as Hartford (5-3) opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Guard Ikea Witt, who finished with 12 points, capped the run with a layup that gave Hartford a 39-25 lead.

The Hawks, who had a 20-game home winning streak snapped Wednesday with a 59-53 loss to Seton Hall, were playing a nationally-ranked team at the Chase Arena for the first time.

Center Dani Kubik Wright led BYU (4-3) with 16 points. She was perfect from the field, hitting all seven of her shots, but didn't attempt a field goal in the second half until scoring a three-point play with 4:31 left, cutting Hartford's lead to 58-40.

Shawnee Slade, who entered the game leading the Cougars in scoring at 11.4 points per game, went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting.

Forward Erica Beverly scored half of her 12 points as Hartford jumped out to a 13-6 lead.

Beverly opened the scoring with a layup, worked inside for a basket to increase the lead to 9-3, and hit two free throws with 15:49 left in the first half to give the Hawks a seven-point advantage.

Hartford took advantage of six BYU turnovers in the first 10 minutes and the Hawks crashed the boards to limit the Cougars to one shot and 32 percent shooting through the first 15 minutes.

Witt, who became the ninth player in Hartford history to score 1,000 career points, gave the Hawks their biggest lead, 25-15 with 7:34 remaining in the first half.

Wright scored eight of her 12 first-half points in the final three minutes of halftime. The Cougars, 3-for-10 from three-point range in the first half, started working the ball to Wright in the low post and her basket with 29 seconds left cut Hartford's lead to 29-25 at halftime.