NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Seniors Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) and Allieyah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) tallied double-doubles, and three players had double-digit rebounds as the New Haven women's basketball team took down crosstown rival Southern Connecticut 67-54 on Wednesday. The win moves New Haven to 5-2 (1-1 NE10) on the season and gave Southern (5-1, 2-1 NE10) its first loss of the season.
Kerr netted 31 points and 12 rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting to lead a strong offensive attack for the Chargers. Cubbage added 10 points, 10 rebounds and two steals, and junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) scored nine points to go with 10 rebounds. Sophomore Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) also tallied nine points and freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) added eight points and six boards.
The Chargers dominated on the glass, outrebounding Southern by a 43-26 margin. New Haven shot 51 percent (26-for-51) from the field, including a 55.6 percent clip in the second half, while holding SCSU to just 29.7 percent for the game and 26.7 percent from three-point range. New Haven also held a 42-16 edge in the paint.
SCSU built a 4-0 lead before Kerr got New Haven on the board with a layup. SCSU outscored New Haven 10-2 in points off turnovers in the opening quarter as the Owls built a 14-4 lead by the 3:40 mark. Kerr broke the run with a layup to make it 14-6 as the Chargers closed the frame on an 8-5 run to make it 19-12 after one. Kerr scored 10 of New Haven's 12 points in the period.
New Haven kept the momentum going into the second quarter, extending the run to 16-5 to take a 20-19 lead. Cubbage used a layup to cut it to 19-16, Wormack followed two possessions later with a layup, and a putback by Kerr gave New Haven its first lead, 20-19 at the 7:09 mark, forcing a SCSU timeout. The lead changed hands three times before DeBose cut it to 25-24 with 1:04 remaining, but Southern extended its lead to 27-24 with a layup in the final minute, taking the three-point edge into halftime.
"We just looked sluggish and made careless turnovers and I didn't think we were sharing the ball like we had been recently," said head coach Deborah Buff. "At halftime, I told them that we weren't running our system, we had to reverse the ball and stop turning the ball over. I felt pretty good at halftime because we weren't playing well and were only down by three. I think our defense has been good for us this year and we were able to limit them to one-and-done in the second half."
Tied at 30 in the opening minutes of the third, Kerr came away with a steal at midcourt, which led to a putback basket by DeBose to give the Chargers the lead for good, igniting a 13-2 run that gave New Haven the 41-32 edge with 2:29 remaining.
The Owls would storm back within two thanks to a quick 7-0 run over the next two minutes, but Kerr quelled the spurt by drawing a foul with two seconds left and connecting on both free throws to make it 43-39 entering the fourth.
SCSU used a quick layup to get within two to start the fourth, but back-to-back buckets from Cubbage, followed by a Wormack layup got the lead quickly back to eight just over one minute later. Southern once again got within three with 6:29 to play, but five points from Kerr on back-to-back possessions got the lead back to nine with just under five minutes remaining.
Kerr grew the lead to double digits for the first time at 2:41 with a free throw and Pergola followed with two of her own to make it 61-49 with just over two minutes left in regulation. A DeBose layup and four free throws apiece from Pergola and Kerr upped the lead to as much as 16, at 67-51 in the final minute, before the Owls sunk a three with 12 seconds left to close out the scoring.
"Southern is a great team in our conference," Buff said. "They have players who can shoot and if they got second or third chances, it could've been a long night. We just talked about locking down and playing defense and that was why we got back into it in the second quarter. We just weren't running things or reversing the ball in the beginning. Once we started reversing the ball, I do think our man defense was really good during that time. We really started to follow the scout and ran our system."
The Chargers will return to action this Saturday afternoon with a trip to Albany to take on Saint Rose. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Fans who are unable to attend the game can follow all the action live on NE10 Now or follow along with live stats.
