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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The University of New Haven women's basketball team has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season after Wednesday's 81-62 setback at Merrimack. Senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) tallied 20 points, nine rebounds and four steals on 10-of-19 shooting, junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) added 10 points, and redshirt freshman Luzdali Ocasio (Davenport, Fla./New Hampton) scored a season-high eight points to go with three rebounds and four assists. Merrimack (12-8, 5-7 NE10) paired a hot shooting night – 50 percent from the floor and 15-of-34 from three-point range – with a solid defensive performance, where they collected 17 steals off 25 Charger turnovers.

New Haven (13-6, 6-5 NE10) outrebounded Merrimack 36-32 and outscored the Warriors 34-28 in the paint, but allowed Merrimack to score 30 points off their 25 turnovers. The 81 points allowed by the Chargers is a season-high.

QUARTER 1

·       Both teams went back and forth with the lead changing hands five times over the first three-plus minutes. Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) got the scoring started with a layup, Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) made it 5-3 New Haven with a three-pointer, and Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) made it 7-5 with a layup at 7:54.

·       Merrimack took an 8-7 lead off a three-pointer to spark an 11-0 run, which Wormack ended with a jumper at 3:22 to make it 16-9.

·       Ocasio ended the quarter with a three-pointer with 1:23 remaining to get the Chargers within 23-16 after one.

·       Pergola led New Haven with seven first quarter points. 

QUARTER 2

·       The Warriors opened up the second quarter by quickly jumping out on a 7-0 run, forcing Buff to call timeout at the 8:24 mark, down 30-16.

·       Both teams would trade layups coming out of the timeout, and Kerr got the deficit back to 12 with a short pull-up jumper, but Merrimack answered with another triple to grow their lead to 35-20 at 6:35.

·       Kerr scored six straight points for the Chargers in the quarter, but the Warrior continued to connect from downtown, growing the lead to 22 points on three separate occasions, the final time with 23 seconds left to take a 53-31 lead into the locker room.

·       The Warriors connected on 13 of their 18 field goals in the second quarter (72.2 percent) and were 4-of-7 from three-point range, finishing the first half 9-for-19 from long range and 22-for-36 overall (61.1 percent).

New Haven shot 41.9 percent from the floor in the first half, led by Kerr with 10 points, all of which came in the second quarter. Merrimack came away with 10 steals off 15 New Haven turnovers through the first 20 minutes, outscoring New Haven 23-3 in points off those miscues.

QUARTER 3

·       The Chargers built some momentum early in the third, scoring eight of the first 14 points of the quarter with Wormack and Kerr hitting two treys apiece to bring the score to 59-39 with 4:56 on the clock.

·       Merrimack followed with five quick points to make it 64-39, forcing another New Haven timeout.

·       Merrimack got the lead to 29 in the final minute with a 71-42 lead, and held a 71-43 lead after three following a late free throw from DeBose.

QUARTER 4

·       Merrimack took a game-high 32-point lead at 79-47 on a fastbreak bucket just over three minutes into the final quarter.

·       From there, New Haven scored seven unanswered points as part of a 13-2 run to close the game.

·       Ocasio scored five points in the final quarter, including a driving layup while drawing a foul with 3:14 remaining to make it 81-57. She then added a pair from the line just over one minute later.  

The Chargers will return home this Saturday afternoon for a 1:30 p.m. matinee against Stonehill at Charger Gymnasium.