SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team dropped its first game in 2016 on the road at American International 71-56. Senior Brianna Bradford led the Chargers on the floor with 13 points, extending her streak of double digit games in 2015-16 to 12 straight.
With the loss, New Haven falls to 6-6 overall and 2-4 in the Northeast-10, while American International remains unbeaten at 12-0 overall and 60 in the NE-10, breaking the Yellow Jackets school record for consecutive wins to open a season.
Joining Bradford in leading the Chargers was classmate Lauren Hebert (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) and freshman Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) who finished with 11 and 10 points respectively. As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 38.2 percent from the field on 21-of-55. The Chargers best shooting came in the second half when they connected on 50 percent of their attempts (15-of-30).
Leading the individual shooting efforts was Kerr and India Dotson (Akron, Ohio/Frederick (Md.) / Monmouth University) who each finished with just two missed buckets in five attempts for a .600 effort. For the game, New Haven trailed in the battle of the boards 34-32 with Hebert leading the individual efforts with nine boards, one shy of her first double double of the season.
The Chargers offense was held without a field goal until the final minute of the opening quarter when Bradford took advantage of an AIC turnover when she was ahead of the defense and capped off a fast break opportunity. That basket provided the final margin at the first intermission, 23-5 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
After AIC opened the second quarter with the first five points, New Haven began to chip away at the deficit with back-to-back buckets the first a second chance layup from Alliyeah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) followed by a jumper for Hebert.
Those two baskets began what turned into a 14-4 run that cut the Chargers deficit to 13, 32-19, with just over 90 seconds remaining before halftime. Included in that run was the Chargers first three pointer of the game, from Bradford, which capped off a stretch of six unanswered points. Back-to-back hoops from Cubbage and Kerr rounded out the run for New Haven.
At the intermission, Kerr led the Chargers with six points, four of which came at the free throw line. As a team, New Haven shot 24 percent in the opening half on 6-of-25, with the one three pointer from Bradford coming on five total attempts for the Blue and Gold. The Chargers did win the battle of the boards in the opening half with a 20-18 margin, led by Hebert who hauled in a first half best for all players of seven rebounds.
In the third quarter, New Haven and AIC traded baskets for much of the period with the Yellow Jackets able to muster back-to-back buckets on a pair of occasions, including ending the half with two-straight hoops, resulting in a 60-33 lead at the break.
After allowing back-to-back baskets early in the fourth quarter, the Charger defense kicked into high gear, holding American International to just five points and only two buckets in the final 8:25 of the game. In that stretch, the Chargers forced AIC into nine turnovers, while ending the game on a 22-5 run, cutting the final deficit to 71-56.
The Blue and Gold strung together three-straight baskets to open up the run, the final two of which came from Dotson. Following the two AIC baskets in the final 8:25, the Chargers began what was a 13-0 rally to close out the game. In that stretch, Hebert finished with three field goals, a three pointer and back-to-back layups, the first off of a Yellow Jacket turnover and the second on an inbounds play.
The Chargers return to West Haven for the first time in 2016 when they welcome the Merrimack Warriors on Wednesday, January 6. Tipoff against the Warriors is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Charger Gym following the annual Class at the Court which welcomes more than 450 fourth grade youth from West Haven for a day of learning and basketball.
