WEST HAVEN, CONN. - Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) scored 21 points including the 1,000^th of her career to go along with 13 rebounds as the University of New Haven women's basketball team withstood a late rally by Southern Connecticut State to win its fourth straight game 79-76 at Charger Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the New Haven is now 10-2 overall and holds a 4-2 mark in the Northeast-10 Conference while the Owls fall to 7-6 and are also 4-2 in the NE-10.

In addition to Hayes efforts, Elizabeth Cruso (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) scored a career-high 19 points behind a 4-for-7 performance from three-point range. Lauren Hebert (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) also scored in double figures, contributing 10 points off the bench.

Hayes did the bulk of her damage in the first half as she dropped 19 points in the opening frame. New Haven needed all of them as the Chargers found themselves down 29-22 before going on a 10-0 run, with Hayes netting eight of the points, in just under four minutes to take a 32-29 advantage with 4:50 to go in the half. Just shy of three minutes later, the senior hit her historic bucket on a pull-up jumper from the left baseline to put UNH on top 36-33 before the Blue and Gold took a 42-37 lead into halftime.

In the second half, New Haven started off strong, opening the stanza on an 11-4 run to extend the lead to 53-41 with 15:38 remaining. The lead expanded to as many as 16 at 66-50 on a trey by Cruso with 9:51 to go.

Southern Connecticut State started to chip away at the New Haven advantage, going on a 23-6 run during the next 7:18 to take a 73-72 lead with 2:33 remaining.

Undaunted, the Chargers had the last say, scoring seven of the game's final 10 points, hitting on all five of their free throws in the final minute of the game.

New Haven now goes on the road for the first time in three weeks, traveling to Goffstown, N.H. for an NE-10 matchup against Saint Anselm on January 7 at 5:30 p.m.