WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The nationally-ranked No. 21 University of New Haven women's basketball team saw a 17-point halftime lead cut to three in the second half, but rallied to claim a 72-48 win against the Assumption Greyhounds in a Northeast-10 Conference Championship Quarterfinal on Sunday afternoon at Charger Gymnasium.
 
With the win, New Haven improves to 23-4. Assumption falls to 15-12. The Chargers advance and will host American International on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. The Yellow Jackets upset Stonehill 73-64 in Conference Championship action on Sunday.
 
New Haven was led by Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) who had 23 points. Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) added 12 points. Rykema Stone (Bronx, N.Y./Wings Academy) had eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) and Lauren Hebert (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) each scored nine points off the bench with Bradford pulling in a season-best seven rebounds.
 
Jaclyn Storey led Assumption with 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
 
A slow start for the Chargers saw the Greyhounds take an early 5-4 lead three-and-a-half minutes into the contest. From there, New Haven went on a tear, scoring 28 of the next 33 points over a stretch of just more than 14 minutes to take a 32-9 lead with 3:33 remaining in the half. As much as the scoring, defense was keyed the run as New Haven held Assumption without a field goal for 12 minutes and 12 seconds and forced seven turnovers during the spurt.
 
The Greyhounds did not go quietly, cutting the lead to nine at 42-33 in less than five minutes. Assumption continued to chip into the lead during the next six minutes as a jumper by Shayla Hubbard cut the New Haven advantage to 49-46 with 9:01 remaining. The two teams played nearly evenly over until the 6:47 mark when a pair of free throws by Moore and one by Bradford pushed the lead back to 54-48 with 6:38 left. The Chargers continued to push the tempo, ending the game on a 19-0 run, pulling away for the final margin.
 
With the win, the senior class of Hayes, Moore, Stone, Ashley LeBlanc (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) and Elizabeth Cruso (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) has achieved a 20-win turnaround from their freshman to senior seasons, marking the largest four-year turnaround in the history of the NE-10.