NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team dropped a 69-52 decision on the road against crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday night, splitting the home-and-home series with the Northeast-10 foe. With the loss, New Haven falls to 12-12 overall and 8-10 in the NE-10, while SCSU improves to 16-10 and 9-9 in league action.
Leading the Chargers was senior Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross) who completed her team-leading 13th game of the season with 20-plus points, leading all players in the game with 21. She was one of seven Chargers who added to the scoring column against SCSU. Lauren Heber would close out the game with nine points, while Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) chipped in eight.
As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 35.5 percent from the field on 22-of-62, with four of the 22 baskets coming from outside the three point arc. The Chargers also finished 4-of-8 at the free throw line. Combined, New Haven finished with 41 rebounds, one shy of the Owls 42 for the game. Leading the way was Khayla Trowell (Temple Hills, Md./Elizabeth Seton Catholic) who finished with nine boards.
After an early SCSU bucket, Hebert would get the Chargers on the board, draining one of three first half three pointers 60 seconds into the action, giving UNH its first lead of the night. Neither team would muster more than a two possession lead in the opening quarter with the Chargers answering their largest deficit late in the quarter with an old fashioned three point play from Bradford. That play for Bradford cut the Owls lead to 20-16 at the first break as she led all players with nine first quarter points.
Southern Connecticut opened up the second quarter with seven of the first nine points to gain its largest lead to that point, 27-18. The Chargers answered that deficit with their first back-to-back baskets from freshman Kerr and Bradford that pulled New Haven back within five. Bradford would then cut the Owls lead to four with another three-point play. Kerr looked to keep the difference at four when she hit a layup with 44 seconds remaining before the intermission, however SCSU answered with a three pointer to provide the final halftime margin, 37-30.
Bradford would lead all players at the intermission with 14 points. Overall, six Chargers got on the board for New Haven in the opening half. Bradford's 14 points came on 5-of-11 from the field with one of those baskets a three points, while she was 3-of-4 at the free throw line with two of those free throws converting three point plays.
The Owls opened up the first double digit lead of the game just over two minutes into the second half, scoring six of the first eight points. The Blue and Gold responded to that deficit with back-to-back buckets from Kerr and Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy), cutting the Owls lead to seven, 43-36 with 6:14 remaining in the third. The Chargers would get as close as six in the third quarter, that coming on a three pointer, the second of the game for Bradford, which provided a 49-43 margin.
The Blue and Gold were unable to muster a run over the final 10 minutes with four of the six points in the final quarter of action coming from Bradford, extending her over the 20-point plateau for the 13th time this season.
New Haven returns home for its final two regular season games, taking on Pace on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. before hosting Le Moyne on Tuesday, Feb. 23 for Senior Night at 5:30 p.m.
