New Haven (15-8, 10-7 NE-10) vs. Pace (5-17, 4-12 NE-10)
Saturday, Feb. 15 – 3:30 p.m.
West Haven, Conn. – Charger Gymnasium
Live Video | Live Stats
 
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
 
Opening Tip
The University of New Haven women's basketball team returns home to host its annual Play 4Kay game against the visiting Pace Setters. The Chargers won the first meeting, 76-50, on Nov. 23 in Pleasantville.
 
Last Time Out
New Haven erased a 14-point deficit to take a lead early in the second half at Le Moyne, but the Dolphins made a final run to claim a 71-63 decision on Tuesday.
 
Aquillin Hayes led the Chargers with her third consecutive double-double – 15 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Jasmine Gibson registered all of her career-high 11 points in the second half coming off of the New Haven bench.
 
The Chargers were edged, 39-37, on the boards and committed 13 turnovers while forcing 11 Le Moyne miscues.
 
Emily Greer led four Dolphins scoring in double figures with 19 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
 
Le Moyne opened up an early 15-5 lead and extended the margin to 14 points before the Blue and Gold went on a run. Hayes accounted for the last six tallies of the period to cap the effort and send New Haven into the locker room trailing by just one point at 31-30.
 
The Dolphins reopened a five-point cushion to begin the second half, but the Chargers came all the way back into the lead with 13:59 to play. The next run went to Le Moyne, as the hosts put together a 15-4 stretch over a span of 5:13 to rebuild a double-digit advantage at 57-46. Gibson came off the bench and provided as spark with 11 points down the stretch as New Haven looked to manufacture another comeback, but the Dolphins shot 12-for-14 from the stripe over the final 6:10 of the contest to seal the victory.
 
New Haven Notes
After recording a double-double in both ends of a 1-1 week, Aquillin Hayes was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 10. Hayes averaged 21.5 points and 13.0 rebounds per game in NE-10 Southwest Division contests against Southern Connecticut State and Saint Rose this past week. She shot 63.3 percent (19-of-30) from the field and 83.3 percent (5-of-6) from the free throw line while adding 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The junior registered 18 points and 13 rebounds against SCSU and notched 25 points with 13 boards in Saturday's 72-62 win at Saint Rose.
 
Hayes is the first Charger to earn Northeast-10 Player of the Week laurels since Helin Marte shared the honor with Bentley's Kim Brennan on Feb. 1, 2010. Nikki Carroll also garnered an NE-10 Player of the Week nod on Dec. 22, 2008 during New Haven's first season as a member of the conference.
 
Hayes followed up with her third consecutive double-double on Tuesday, posting 15 points and 13 rebounds at Le Moyne.
 
At 15-8, the Chargers have eclipsed their win total from all of 2012-13. A 17-win season would be New Haven's highest win total since joining the Northeast-10 prior to the 2008-09 campaign. The Chargers have reached the Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinals on three occasions, winning First Round games in 2008-09 and 2009-10 and earning a bye to the Quarterfinals as the sixth-seeded team last winter.
 
New Haven has limited 10 opponents to fewer than 60 points this winter, including a season-low 43 tallies surrendered to Davis & Elkins on Nov. 29. Opponents have been held to a 36.3 field goal percentage as well as a 31.4 three-point percentage while committing an average of 16.1 turnovers per game against the Blue and Gold's defensive pressure.
 
The Chargers rank fourth in the Northeast-10 with 62.8 points allowed per game. Offensively, UNH slots sixth in the NE-10 with 69.2 points per game.
 
New Haven has twice overcome an 11-point deficit en route to victory. The Chargers stormed past Davis & Elkins after trailing by 11 points on Nov. 29 and came back from 11 down at Saint Rose on Feb. 8. The Blue and Gold also erased a 10-point margin in the Dec. 22 win at Southern Connecticut State.
 
Aquillin Hayes has recorded nine double-doubles this season en route to 14.3 points per contest and ranks second in the Northeast-10 with 10.2 rebounds per game. Hayes, who posted a team-high seven double-doubles last winter, netted a career-high 27 points at Saint Michael's on Jan. 14 and matched her personal best on Jan. 25 at Stonehill.
 
Hayes has two career games with at least 20 rebounds, including the November overtime contest at No. 17 Rollins. She hauled in 21 boards to go along with 12 points and eight blocks in a win over Le Moyne last winter.
 
Bria Moore has scored in double figures in 15 games this winter, including a streak of seven outings in a row from Nov. 26 to Dec. 22. The 2011-12 Northeast-10 Rookie of the Year averages 11.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest this season.
 
This season, Briana Bradford has surpassed 20 points in four games en route to 12.9 points per contest. She scored a career-high 24 points with five three-pointers in the Nov. 13 win over Saint Rose. Bradford also drained five from beyond the arc en route to 21 points in the conference win at Pace on Nov. 23. She was a Northeast-10 All-Rookie Team selection last winter.
 
With two three-pointers on two attempts in Saturday's win at Saint Rose, Audrey Cunningham is the sixth Charger to knock down 100 treys in her career. She currently stands tied for fifth-place all-time with Lauren Hood, who hit the century mark from distance in a career spanning from 2005-09. Cunningham is in the midst of her third active season with the Blue and Gold. Becky Snow is the program's all-time leader with 235 triples during her Hall of Fame tenure with the Chargers from 1996 to 2000.
 
The seven teams that have defeated the Chargers this winter currently boast a combined record of 126-52 (.709). Among those teams, Bentley is the unbeaten No. 1 ranked team in Division II at 22-0, while Rollins (19-4) checks in at No. 18. Additionally, Stonehill and Adelphi are currently receiving votes and have both been nationally ranked during the 2013-14 campaign.
 
At 15-8 in her first campaign, Head Coach Ty Grace is the seventh first-year coach in program history to improve the team's win total from the previous season. Grace is the 16th head women's basketball coach all-time (including Deborah Chin, who had no predecessor when she founded the program in the 1975-76 season). The largest improvement by a first-year coach was Mimi Walters' 20-10 season in 2002-03 after taking the reins of an 11-15 squad.
 
The Chargers' 4-0 start was the first for the program since the 1989-90 team won its first six outings. The Blue and Gold also began at 3-0 in the Northeast-10 Conference for the first time since 2009-10.
 
In the Northeast-10
With two weeks to play, Adelphi (11-5 NE-10) leads 10-7 New Haven at the top of the NE-10 Southwest Division standings. The Panthers won the first meeting, 84-81, and will host the second clash with the Chargers on Feb. 25 to conclude the regular season. At 9-8, American International and Le Moyne share third place with a head-to-head meeting set for Feb. 22.
 
In the NE-10 Northeast, Bentley stands alone at 17-0 as part of a 22-0 overall record for Division II's top-ranked team. Stonehill owns a one-game cushion in second place at 12-5 against conference foes. Third-place Franklin Pierce checks in at 11-6.
 
Up Next
New Haven hosts American International in the final home game of the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 19. The Chargers will recognize seniors Audrey Cunningham, Jasmine Gibson, Amber Martinez and Ana Obella and graduate student Ayana Duncanson prior the 5:30 p.m. contest.