WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The New Haven women's basketball team pulled out a thrilling 55-50 upset victory over top seed Le Moyne on Tuesday evening to close out the regular season. Junior Kim Talley (Quakertown, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) drilled a huge three-pointer with 20 seconds left to put the Chargers up by five, and freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) hit four free throws in the closing seconds to help seal the win.

New Haven's win, paired with an Adelphi victory over American International, gives the Chargers the No. 3 seed in the Southwest Division and a first round bye in the upcoming Northeast 10 Conference Championship Tournament. New Haven (17-11, 10-10 NE10) will begin postseason play on Sunday in the quarterfinals at Stonehill, the No. 2 seed in the Northeast Division.

Three Chargers scored in double figures led by Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) who had 15 points and a team-high five assists. DeBose tallied 11 points and junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) added 10. Sophomore Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) scored six points to go with three assists, and Talley scored six points on 2-of-2 from three-point range. As a team, the Chargers shot a season-high 66.7 percent (6-for-9) from beyond the arc and held Le Moyne (21-5, 15-5 NE10) to 34 percent overall and just 25 percent from downtown.

"Right now I think our team really just believes in each other," said head coach Deborah Buff. "They're willing to do whatever it takes to win right now, whether that means giving the ball up, rebounding or getting a defensive stop. I have a lot of respect for Le Moyne and their program and they're a well-coached team, so this is a big win for our program over the top seed in the division. It shows we are changing the program and the culture and moving in the right direction.

"Kim (Talley) and Cam (DeBose) both hit a couple big shots and that's what it takes to win," Buff said. "I thought we really locked into our scout. We battled them on the boards, hit our foul shots and shot really shot well from the arc."

FIRST QUARTER

·       Le Moyne jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Kerr and Wormack added back-to-back layups to get within one.

·       Talley connected on a deep ball from the corner off an assist from Kerr to give New Haven its first lead of the game, 11-9, at the 2:53 mark, and Kerr added a second chance layup to increase the edge to 13-9.

·       Le Moyne used a three-pointer in the final minute to get within 13-12 after one quarter of play.

SECOND QUARTER

·       Pergola connected from downtown to open up the second quarter's scoring. Le Moyne followed with four unanswered points to tie the game at 16 with 6:43 remaining.

·       From there, the Chargers ripped off a 9-0 run over a 2:54 span to take a 25-16 lead with 3:34 left.

·       Pergola found Kerr cutting towards the basket for two, Kerr then found Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) down low for another layup, then Kerr then connected on a three from deep in the corner off an assist from Ocasio.

·       Kerr capped the run by picking off a pass near her own foul line and taking it all the way to the rim for a breakaway layup to give the Chargers their largest lead of the opening half.

·       Le Moyne ended the run with a three at 2:36 to get within 25-19. Oge hit a free throw with 1:03 on the clock to give the Chargers the 26-19 lead at the break.

THIRD QUARTER

·       The Chargers built the lead to nine just over a minute into the third and got the led to double digits for the only time in the game.

·       Leading 28-24, DeBose drilled back-and-back threes to grow the edge to 34-24 at the 6:12 mark.

·       Le Moyne used a 12-5 run to creep within 39-36 in the final minute, but Wormack got the lead back to five on a layup with 15 seconds left, giving New Haven the 41-36 lead entering the fourth.

FOURTH QUARTER

·       Le Moyne scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, helped by consecutive threes to take a 44-41 lead.

·       Wormack hit one from the line and Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) added a jumper in the paint to knot the game 44-all at the 6:53 mark.

·       Le Moyne quickly regained its two-point lead, but Kerr came back with the game-tying trey before both team went just over three minutes without scoring.

·       Wormack gave New Haven the lead for good with a layup with 1:19 remaining.

·       Coming out of a timeout, Talley stepped up and drilled a three-pointer from the left side for a huge bucket that extended the lead to 51-46 with 20 seconds left.

·       The Dolphins made it a one possession game once again with a quick bank shot off the inbounds, but DeBose hit two free throws after being fouled to make it 53-48 with 15 seconds to go.

·       Le Moyne countered with a fastbreak layup to get within three once again, but DeBose had the answer with two free throws in the final second to seal the win.

Tipoff for Sunday's NE10 quarterfinal clash between New Haven and Stonehill will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in Easton, Mass. The game will be broadcast live on NE10 NOW.