NORTH ANDOVER, MA (Dec. 4, 2007) – Senior F Liron Asher (Givataim, Israel) scored a career-high 20 points as UMass Lowell defeated Merrimack College, 62-50, Tuesday night in a Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball clash at the Volpe Center.

The victory halted a four-game slide for UML, which improved to 2-4 overall and 1-4 in the NE-10 entering Thursday’s home clash against defending national champion Southern Connecticut (5:30). Merrimack suffered its fifth straight loss, slipping to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the Conference.

Asher scored 12 of her points in the first half and converted 7 of 14 field goals for the game. All six of her free throw attempts came in succession in the pivotal final 8:11. Junior C Revital Carmon (Bat-Yam, Israel) added nine points and eight rebounds.

The River Hawks outscored the Warriors at the free throw line 24-10, which offset the Warriors’ 18-0 advantage from behind the 3-point arc. UML also enjoyed a 24-16 advantage scoring in the paint and outrebounded Merrimack 46-28 overall and 36-20 defensively.

Senior G Takeyah Faison (Lynn, MA) led the Warriors with nine points while senior F Ashley Brownlee (Portland, ME) chipped in eight points.

Merrimack led 39-38 with 11:53 left in the game, but UML used an 11-2 spurt to post a 49-41 lead with 7:44 remaining. Asher led the run with four free throws.

The Warriors countered with a 9-4 spurt, in which freshman G Sarah Benischek (Shrub Oak, NJ) buried a pair of 3-point shots, to cut the deficit to 53-50 with 3:13 left to play.

UML converted 9 of 12 free throws while Merrimack misfired on seven field goal attempts the rest of the way to seal the win.