WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The nationally-ranked No. 24 University of New Haven women's basketball team erased a double-digit first half deficit as the Chargers pulled away from the Le Moyne Dolphins 80-64 in a Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division matchup on Tuesday evening at Charger Gymnasium.

The win was the 20^th of the season for the Chargers, the first time they have accomplished the feat since the 2007-08 season when New Haven was a member of the East Coast Conference. The Chargers are now 20-3 overall and 14-3 in the Northeast-10. Le Moyne drops to 14-10 with an 8-9 record in conference.

For the fourth time in five games, the Blue and Gold placed five players in double-figure scoring led by 23 points from Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy), who also topped New Haven with nine rebounds. Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) added 14 while Elizabeth Cruso (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) contributed with 11. Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) and Lauren Hebert shined off the bench for the Blue and Gold with 13 and 10 points respectively.

The Chargers struggled from the floor early as 3-for-10 shooting to go along with four turnovers allowed the visitors to jump out to a 25-9 lead less than eight minutes into the contest. A three-pointer by Moore ignited a 13-2 run, during which Moore scored seven points to cut the Le Moyne lead to 27-22 with 6:24 remaining in the half. After a layup by Bath-Sheba McMahon put the Dolphins up by seven, New Haven went on a 12-5 run, highlighted by six points from Hayes to tie the game at 34-34 with 1:12 to go in the frame.

In the second half, defense propelled the Chargers as New Haven held Le Moyne to just 31 percent shooting in the stanza and forced nine turnovers. The game was still tight with just over 11 minutes to play when Cruso hit her first triple of the night to tie the game at 54-54. From there, the Chargers scored 23 of the next 26 points, nine of them from Cruso and held the Dolphins 1-for-11 shooting with five turnovers during the span to pull away.

For the game, New Haven committed just eight turnovers, giving the ball up a mere four times in the final 33:46 of the contest.

Winners of seven in a row, the Chargers complete a three-game homestand by hosting NE-10 Southwest Division foe Pace on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 1:30 p.m.