GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team nearly came back from a 19-point halftime deficit, but fell just short to the defending Northeast-10 Conference Champions, the Adelphi Panthers, 60-55 at the Center for Recreation and Sport on Saturday afternoon.
In the first NE10 matchup of the season for New Haven, junior
Allieyah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) led all scorers with 21 points on the afternoon behind 50-percent field goal percentage and a 7-of-9 free throw effort while also leading the Chargers in steals with four. Junior
Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) finished as the Chargers other double-digit scorer, producing 12 points on a 5-of-10 performance with three blocks on the afternoon. Junior Alex Kerr finished third in scoring for New Haven with eight points, and also hit the only three-point shot of the game for the Chargers, occurring late in the first quarter.
On the glass, Cubbage and freshman
Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) each led with an identical four offensive rebounds and two rebounds on the afternoon, while Pergola added a team-high three assists in the game.
As a team, New Haven shot 29.2% in the game, while Adelphi was able to convert on 23-of-53 field goal attempts for a 43.4% shooting percentage. Twenty-three of New Haven's points came on the second chance, and also capitalized for 20 points off Adelphi turnovers.
On the afternoon, New Haven committed only nine turnovers, a season low for the squad and also causing 24 Panther turnovers.
FIRST QUARTER NOTES:
- Junior Katie Oge opened up the scoring with a layup assisted by Cubbage.
- Adelphi went off to score the next 12 points, taking a quick 12-0 lead over the Chargers
- The Chargers brought themselves back within seven points with three-straight free throws, the first by Oge and the second by freshman Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington)
- Oge dished out a pass to junior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair), who sunk her first three-point basket of the year just before the buzzer to cut the Panther lead to 17-11.
SECOND QUARTER NOTES:
- Cubbage scored the first six of all eight points scored for the Chargers in the second quarter with two good layups and a jumper.
- Oge got in a layup with just over a minute remaining just before the halftime break with New Haven down by 13 at the middle buzzer.
- Adelphi netted two straight threes with under a minute remaining in the third to stretch the Panther lead to 19 points at the midway point.
THIRD QUARTER NOTES
- New Haven came out of the locker room with zest, starting the quarter on a 12-5 run.
- Pergola scored first on a layup. After a good three-pointer by the Panthers, the Chargers answered as Oge hit two shots and Kerr scored another.
- New Haven continued charging late into the third as a pair of free throws and a jump shot by Cubbage with a hand by Pergola helped the Chargers down the stretch
- New Haven took over and did not let Adelphi score in the final 2:48 of the stanza with Khayla Trowell (Temple Hills, Md./Elizabeth Seton Catholic) nailing her first shot of the game, and Cubbage putting in a two-pointer and two free throws to cut the Adelphi lead to nine, the smallest lead since the 6:32 mark in the second quarter
- The quarter resulted in New Haven outscoring Adelphi 18-8 in the frame.
FOURTH QUARTER NOTES
- Adelphi hit the first shot of the final frame, forcing New Haven to call an early time out.
- The Chargers continued to catch fire with Trowell scoring once again, forcing an Adelphi time out this time around.
- New Haven caused a turnover with Alex Kerr getting the steal. Down the court, Cubbage missed her jump shot, but Kerr got the offensive rebound and put in the second-chance shot.
- The Blue and Gold forced another turnover, this time with Cubbage getting the steal and taking the layup all the way in, making the shot and forcing a foul but was unable to convert on the old-fashioned three-point play.
- Oge made a layup, assisted by Kerr to spark a 7-0 run that stretched only 63 seconds, a run that brought the Chargers within five points of the lead with 2:28 left in regulation
- Adelphi hit a three, but Pergola scored with a minute remaining followed by both teams calling time out to slow down the pace. After the break, Cubbage was fouled and hit the first free throw, but missed the second, that resulted in a jump ball with the arrow favoring New Haven.
- Cubbage answered with her final made shot of the game to bring the Chargers back within five
- Pergola had the final opportunity for a comeback, but could not connect on the three-point shot as Adelphi was able to sneak away with the 60-55 win.
- New Haven finished the quarter, once again outscoring the Panthers in the frame, 18-14.
The Chargers get back into action on Tuesday evening at American International. Game time against the Yellow Jackets at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium in Springfield, Mass. is set for 5:30 pm. For fans who are unable to attend the game, live stats and video will be available on www.AICYellowJackets.com.