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WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team used a late 9-1 run to take down American International 68-59 on Tuesday night at Charger Gymnasium. Junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) had a double-double with a career-high 18 points and 14 rebounds, while senior Allieyah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) had a season-best 16 points and nine rebounds to help lead the Chargers. Wormack was 6-of-8 from the field as she picked up her first double-double of the season. Four Chargers scored in double figures as senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) also registered 16 points to go with six rebounds and sophomore Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) added 10 points. Freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) scored six points while dishing out a career-high and team-leading three assists.

Both teams finished the game shooting exactly 40 percent from the floor and 25 percent from three-point range. The Chargers (7-4, 3-3 NE10) outrebounded the Yellow Jackets (4-5, 3-3 NE10) 37-32. New Haven connected on 25 of their 30 free throws and was able to pull away with a strong fourth quarter, where they outscored AIC 19-9.

"We outrebounded a very good rebounding team and we shared the ball," said head coach Deborah Buff. "We hit our foul shots and we've talked about how we've played two out of the four quarters in past games, and how we really had to put together four good quarters. I think it showed tonight by us making some really good decisions down the stretch. It's a great team win and I think we got better today. We played solid for four quarters and I'm really proud of them for that."

FIRST QUARTER

·         American International built a 6-2 lead in the early going before Pergola and Wormack combined for six points to tie the game at 8-8 at the 5:25 mark.

·         All told, New Haven used an 11-0 run to take a 15-8 lead by the 2:49 mark as Cubbage and Wormack sank consecutive layups to make it 13-8, then Wormack got to the line and hit two free throws to go up 15-8.

·         DeBose and Cubbage answered AIC baskets with jumpers in the lane to make it 19-16 with 26 seconds remaining, but the Yellow Jackets tied up the score 19-19 as Alyssa Guyon knocked down a triple as the buzzer sounded.

SECOND QUARTER

·         The buzzer beater gave AIC control heading into the second quarter, sparking a 10-2 run that put the Yellow Jackets up 26-21 by the 6:43 mark.

·         Pergola broke the spell with a fastbreak bucket, but the Yellow Jackets answered with four straight points to up their run to 14-4 and take a 30-23 lead.

·         Kerr got the deficit down to two by scoring five straight, the final three of which came off an and-one.

·         Wormack later trimmed the deficit to four, but AIC drew a foul with under one second remaining in the half to get to the line and hit two free throws to take a six-point, 40-34 lead into halftime.

·         The Yellow Jackets outscored New Haven 21-15 in the second quarter, and finished the first half shooting 53.3 percent from the field.

THIRD QUARTER

·         AIC grew their lead to a game-high eight points, 42-34, exactly 1:30 into the third.

·         New Haven then got hot once again, ripping off a 10-2 run over the next 5:04 to knot the game at 44.

·         Cubbage and Wormack started the streak with a pair of free throws each. DeBose scored two in the paint, Kerr added two from the line, and then Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) scored her lone points of the evening on a layup to tie up the score.

·         Dana Watts answered with a jumper for AIC, but Wormack responded nearly a minute later with a three-pointer to take a 47-46 lead with 1:47 remaining.

·         New Haven grew the lead to three with 1:07 to go before AIC scored the quarter's final four points to take a 50-49 lead into the fourth.

"I thought we had a lot of energy in the second half," Buff said. "We talked yesterday about needing to play better in the middle of the game. In past games, we haven't necessarily had good shot selection in those quarters, and tonight I thought we were very unselfish, got some big rebounds and held AIC to one-and-done situations."

FOURTH QUARTER

·         The Chargers took the lead right out the gate in the final quarter with Cubbage hitting on New Haven's second possession, sparking a 9-2 run that saw the Chargers go up 58-52.

·         AIC followed with a 6-0 spurt to tie the game at 58 with 2:40 to go as New Haven went 6:23 without a field goal.

·         New Haven responded in a big way by scoring the game's next nine points to take their largest lead of the game at 67-58. Kerr ended the dry spell with a basket under the hoop with 2:19 remaining, followed by a Pergola pull up jumper. Pergola, Cubbage and Wormack followed by combining for five straight points from the free throw line to help put the game out of reach. Pergola added one more free throw with eight seconds left to make it a 68-59 final.

·         New Haven shot just 4-of-13 in the final quarter, but AIC went 3-of-15 from the field as New Haven was able to put the game away at the free throw line by connecting on 10 of their 12 free throw attempts down the stretch.

The Chargers will now have 17 days off for final exams and the holidays before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 at Charger Gymnasium against Nyack. Tip off is at 1:30 p.m. on the Chargers Sports Network.