WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team used a strong second half to top Dominican 76-67 on Wednesday at Charger Gymnasium. Senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) led the Chargers with her second straight double-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals, all of which were game-highs. Junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) netted 18 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting, senior Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks on 4-of-6 from the floor, and senior Allieyah Cubbage (North Plainfield, N.J./Roselle Catholic) added 10 points and six rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting.

New Haven held a huge edge on the boards, outrebounding Dominican 50-22 and outscoring the visitors 19-4 in second chance points. As a team, New Haven connected on 43.1 percent of its shots (28-for-65) and was 18-of-22 from the free throw line. Dominican shot 43.9 percent overall and hit at a 40.9 percent clip from beyond the arc. New Haven scored 26 points on the break, helping the team improve to 10-4 on the year.

"I thought we were pretty sloppy with the basketball and weren't making good shot selections in the first half," said head coach Deborah Buff. "We challenged them to come out in the second half and share the ball and play with more urgency. I thought we played with much better energy and intensity on defense in the second half."

QUARTER 1

·         The two teams traded baskets early, with Dominican holding the lead throughout much of the first quarter. New Haven drew even on three occasions before taking its first lead at 14-13 with 2:04 remaining.

·         The lead changed hands four more times the rest of the period, culminating with Wormack grabbing an offensive rebound and putting home the tip-in just head of the horn to give the Chargers the 18-17 edge after one.

·         Wormack totaled nine points on 4-of-7 shooting to lead New Haven in the opening frame.

QUARTER 2

·         Dominican retook the lead at 20-18 two minutes in on a three-pointer, and kept the lead through the end of the half.

·         Dominican grew the lead to a half-high six on four occasions.

·         New Haven erased one of those deficits with a 6-0 run to knot the score at 24-24 with 3:22 on the clock, but Dominican would drain three consecutive three-pointers, while New Haven's Luzdali Ocasio (Davenport, Fla./New Hampton) mixed in a triple of her own to make it 33-27 with 1:41 left until halftime.

·         Oje cut it to two with 11 seconds remaining, but Dominican's fast break three-pointer in the closing seconds brought the score to 38-35 at the half.

QUARTER 3

·         The host Chargers came out strong to start the third quarter and used a 21-6 advantage in the frame to take a 54-44 lead into the fourth.

·         A Dominican basket in the first minute grew their lead to a game-high seven.

·         New Haven then strung together 11 straight points to take the lead for good at 44-40 at the 5:52 mark.

·         Kerr started the streak with an and-one, Wormack followed with a jumper in the paint, Kerr added four more points and Cubbage capped the run with a layup off the assist from Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community).

·         After Dominican broke the run with a jumper, New Haven grew the run to 19-2 as Kerr scored a basket, then found Oge underneath for two more. DeBose followed with a layup on the break and Cubbage finished off a layup to make it 52-42 with exactly three minutes on the clock.

·         Oge answered two Dominican free throws with a pair of her own to bring the score to 54-44.

QUARTER 4

·         Dominican made a push in the fourth quarter, quickly cutting their deficit down to five in the first minute of the period.

·         New Haven grew the lead back to double figures twice more before Dominican once again cut it to five, 66-61, with 3:20 remaining.

·         After Dominican scored four straight to get within 69-65 with 56 seconds left, Kerr scored six points for New Haven from the free throw line, and DeBose sank two more from the charity stripe with 10 seconds left to bring the score to the final of 76-67.

New Haven will next take the court one week from today, January 9, at Saint Anselm, beginning a stretch of 11 straight Northeast 10 Conference games. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on NE10 NOW.