TRUJILLO ALTO, Puerto Rico – With all five players in double figures, the University of New Haven women's basketball team cruised to an opening victory in the cross-Atlantic trip, defeating the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon 76-54 on Wednesday afternoon. Leading the Chargers overall was senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) who completed her first double double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
"We played an outstanding second half," said head coach Deborah Buff. "They started out hot and we adjusted, locking in on defense in the second half. Our level of conditioning stood out in the second half. We shared the ball really well as evidenced with five players scoring in double figures."
Joining Kerr in leading the Chargers on the afternoon was sophomore guard Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) who finished with a season-high 16 points, while junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) chipped in 13. Senior Allieyah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) and freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) rounded out the leading scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
In addition, redshirt-freshman Luzdali Ocasio (Davenport, Fla./New Hampton) came off the bench to run the point for the Chargers, finishing the game with six assists, while pulling down four rebounds. As a team, the Chargers closed out the game shooting 25-of-49 from the field, with five of those buckets coming from beyond the arc. New Haven also capitalized at the free throw line where they made 21-of-26 trips, led by Kerr who finished 8-of-10 at the line.
Individually, Workmack had the hottest hand of the afternoon, making all but one of her seven field goal attempts, while the rookie guard, DeBose, finished 4-of-6 from the field. Kerr also led New Haven with seven steals as the Chargers forced the Vaqueros into 20 turnovers, finishing with 15 total steals as a team.
New Haven will continue its Puerto Rico adventure on Thanksgiving Day when they take on the Upper Iowa Peacocks who enter the Puerto Rico Clasico with an 0-3 record. Tip-off against Upper Iowa is slated for 4:00 p.m. EST at the Ruben Zayas Montanez Coliseum.
