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WEST HAVEN, Conn. – A strong second half push and a strong defensive effort from the University of New Haven women's basketball team lifted the Chargers to a big 55-37 win over Saint Rose on Saturday. Senior Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) picked up her first double-double of the season 12 points and a season-high 11 rebounds on 5-for-7 shooting. Freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) tallied a game-high 16 points to go with four steals, while Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) and Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) each added eight points and nine rebounds. Junior Kim Talley (Quakertown, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) chipped in a season-best three steals.
"This is an outstanding team win," said head coach Deborah Buff. "I thought our defense was stellar to hold that team to just 37 points. I thought we followed scout very well throughout 40 minutes."
The Chargers took control of the game using a huge 25-2 run, spanning from late in the second quarter to early in the fourth, including a 16-2 outburst in the third quarter.
New Haven (15-11, 8-10 NE10) dominated on the glass, where they held a 47-20 edge, and turned that into a 16-3 advantage in second chance points. The plus-27 rebounding margin was just one rebound shy of a season-high. The Chargers also held a 21-9 edge in points off turnovers and 24-16 in the paint.
Prior to the game, New Haven honored its four-member senior class of 2019, which included Oge, Kerr, Sianna Van Dyke (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) and Aliyah Christy (Stratford, Conn./King Low Heywood Thomas).
"Our seniors have really embraced the culture in one year," Buff said. "These four have really set the tone for the future. It was a great Senior Day and I'm really fortunate to have coached these four seniors."
FIRST QUARTER
· Talley put New Haven up 5-3 with a pair of free throws before a 12-3 run by the Golden Knights gave them a 15-8 with 15 seconds left in the opening quarter.
· Talley found Oge underneath for a layup just ahead of the buzzer to get New Haven within 15-10 at the break.
SECOND QUARTER
· The Oge bucket at the end of the quarter sparked a 9-0 run for the Chargers. DeBose drained one of her three triples to knot the score at 15 and Pergola contributed a layup on the next possession to make it 17-15 Chargers.
· Talley grabbed a steal and quickly found Oge down low for a big bucket to put New Haven up 19-18 at the 5:10 mark.
· Saint Rose took a 23-21 lead with 1:29 remaining when they Chargers exploded for a huge run that spanned the second and third quarters.
· New Haven closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 26-23 lead into the locker room. Pergola scored all five of the Chargers points, starting with a hard drive to the basket for a big layup to knot the score at 23. Pergola then added a pair of free throws with 48 seconds left, and then added one more from the line in the final seconds to give New Haven the three-point edge.
THIRD QUARTER
· After DeBose and Wormack scored the first four points of the second half for the Chargers, Saint Rose cut it to 30-25 at the 4:22 mark. That proved to be the final points the Golden Knights would score for 6:37, not scoring again until over two minutes into the fourth quarter.
· The Chargers went on another extended run of 16-0, which included the final 12 points of the third quarter.
· The lead grew to double digits for the first time during a late-quarter explosion of 10 points over the final 1:43. DeBose brought the gym to its feet with back-to-back three-pointers, Oge added a layup with 25 seconds remaining, then Kerr came away with a steal in the final seconds and fed DeBose up ahead, who sank a long two pointer from just inside the arc to give New Haven a commanding 42-25 lead after three.
FOURTH QUARTER
· Wormack and Oge hit jumpers to start the fourth, extending the run to 25-2 before Saint Rose scored 10 of the next 12 points to trim their deficit to 48-35 with 7:14 remaining.
· Oge got the lead back to 16 points with a layup at the 3:21 mark, and Kerr added a bucket just over two minutes later to get it back to 16 once again at 53-37.
· Wormack's layup with 35 seconds left put the icing on New Haven's 18-point Senior Day victory.
TOURNAMENT PICTURE
· Through Saturday, New Haven sits in fourth place in the NE10's Southwest Division at 8-10, one game ahead of Southern Connecticut (7-11) and 1.5 games ahead of sixth-place Pace (6-11). The top five teams in the division will qualify for the NE10 Tournament, which starts on March 1.
The Chargers will have a bye this coming week and will return to action next Saturday at American International for their final road game of the regular season. Tipoff from Springfield, Mass. is set for 1:30 p.m.
