BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women’s basketball team will head into the Northeast-10 Championship as winner of four straight contests following a 71-65 win over Saint Rose on Tuesday night at Charger Gymnasium. Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) matched her career high with a game-best 23 points.
 
New Haven (14-12, 13-9 NE-10) finishes the regular season with a program-record 13 NE-10 victories. The Chargers earned the conference’s sixth seed for the upcoming championship and will travel to third-seeded Assumption on Sunday afternoon for a quarterfinal matchup.
 
Bradford, who is the reigning Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week, racked up her 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the floor and a 6-for-8 day at the free throw line. Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) added 16 points, and Anh-Dao Tran (Webster, Mass./Holy Name) also finished in double figures with 10 points in addition to seven assists.
 
Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) led the way on the glass with a game-high 17 rebounds as the Chargers claimed a 43-40 advantage under the boards against one of the conference’s top rebounding teams (+4.9 margin entering tonight).
 
The Chargers trailed for just 30 seconds in the first half, and a 10-3 run midway through the opening period gave New Haven its largest lead of the stanza at 31-23 with 6:03 to play. Saint Rose battled back with seven of the last 10 tallies before the intermission as the home team took a 34-30 advantage into the locker room.
 
Six points from Bradford fueled 15-4 run over the opening six minutes of the second period as the Chargers opened up a 15 points advantage at 49-34. New Haven carried the double-digit advantage to a 59-49 cushion with 7:28 to play, before the Golden Knights went on their biggest run of the contest. The visitors ran off an 11-2 spurt to pull within one point at 61-60. After trading buckets to hold the one-point margin, Tran knocked down a jumper with 2:09 left to rebuild a three-point cushion and start an 8-0 run that also featured four Bradford points and an Ashley LeBlanc layup as the Chargers pulled away for a 71-65 decision.
 
Prior to the game, the Chargers recognized Nikita Reddy (Germantown, Md./Germantown) – the team’s lone senior – who was appearing in her final regular-season home game. Reddy finished with two points, two assists and a blocked shot.
 
Desiree Simmons led Saint Rose (9-17, 6-16 NE-10) with 19 points.
 
New Haven’s Sunday NE-10 quarterfinal game at Assumption tips off in Worcester at 2 p.m. Exclusive coverage of the Chargers’ postseason run will be available throughout the week on NewHavenChargers.com.