WEST HAVEN, Conn. – After building a 17-point second half lead, the #23 New Haven women's basketball team withstood a furious comeback from #5 Stonehill as the Chargers held on for a thrilling 72-71 victory against the Skyhawks in a Northeast-10 Conference contest at Charger Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

New Haven is now 15-3 on the season and 9-3 in the NE-10. Stonehill drops to 14-2 with a 10-2 conference mark.

Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) led the Chargers with 23 points and eight rebounds, adding two blocks, two assists and a steal. Rykema Stone (Bronx, N.Y./Wings Academy) and Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) contributed 14 points apiece off the bench with Stone collecting six rebounds and dishing three assists. Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) helped the cause with seven points and seven rebounds.

After Stonehill jumped to a quick 5-2 lead, New Haven responded with a 20-6 run that lasted more than nine minutes. The Chargers held the Skyhawks to just 2-for-15 shooting and forced four turnovers during the span. The last five points of the spurt for New Haven came from Stone who converted back-to-back layups, capped by a free throw to put the Blue and Gold up 22-11. New Haven kept the pressure on, extending the lead to 33-19 on a jumper by Hayes with 3:46 remaining in the first half before taking a 37-26 lead into the break. Defensively, The Chargers held Stonehill to just 20.6 percent from the field during the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, the Skyhawks came out firing, starting the frame on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 39-34 less than three minutes in. New Haven answered the challenge, scoring 10 unanswered to extend the lead to 49-34 with 15:13 to go in the stanza. Just more than a minute later, a layup by Moore rounded out a 14-2 run to give the Chargers their largest lead of the night at 53-36 with 14:05 on the clock.

While the Stonehill did not go quietly, New Haven held the Skyhawks at arm's length, leading 71-61 on a Hayes jumper with 5:29 to go. From there, the visitors flexed their muscle, going on a 10-1 run to close the gap to 72-71 with 3:11 remaining. At that point, the two defenses shined as neither team scored a point the rest of the way. With nine seconds left, Stonehill had an opportunity to win the game following a missed free throw, but a runner from Paige Marshall bounced off the back of the rim, allowing the Chargers to complete the upset.

The win capped a historic week for New Haven who defeated both Bentley and Stonehill, the two teams it had the longest losing streaks against. Wednesday's 78-54 win against the Falcons was the first for the Blue and Gold since Dec. 12, 1988 and snapped a 17-game skid against Bentley. Prior to this afternoon, New Haven had dropped 21 straight against the Skyhawks and did not have a win against Stonehill since Nov. 27, 1990.

The Chargers have a quick turnaround as women's basketball returns to the court on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Southern New Hampshire in an NE-10 contest.