WEST HAVEN, Conn. – A strong team effort helped the University of New Haven women's basketball team outlast Southern Connecticut 61-48 on Wednesday in a big Northeast 10 Southwest Division showdown. Junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) scored 18 points and tied for a team-high eight rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting. Senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) followed with 16 points and seven boards while going 5-of-8 from the field. Sophomore Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) added 10 points and three assists. Freshman Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) scored seven points to with eight rebounds and a team-high four steals, and redshirt freshman Luzdali Ocasio (Davenport, Fla./New Hampton) played a gritty game with six points and team-high four assists, while drawing six fouls on defense.

The Chargers dominated 32-10 in the paint and finished 20-for-43 from the field (46.5 percent). Defensively, New Haven held the Owls to 26.8 percent from the field and 9-for-38 from three-point range, including holding Southern to just one made three-pointer over their last 18 attempts from beyond the arc. The Chargers also held a 39-31 edge on the glass.

New Haven 14-9 (7-8 NE10) will enter this weekend in a three-way tie for second place in the NE10's Southwest Division with American International, and Saturday's opponent, Adelphi, both of whom were victorious on Wednesday.

"I thought it was an outstanding win," said head coach Deborah Buff. "We've had a couple tough losses and we just talked about being resilient and staying together. I thought we locked down on defense. (Pergola) played great defensively, (Ocasio) was tough as nails, Alex (Kerr) played her game, our bench was engaged and it was just a really good win."

FIRST QUARTER

·       The Chargers jumped out to the early 4-0 lead in the first 26 seconds thanks to a pair of layups from Kerr.

·       Kerr and Wormack used consecutive layups to give New Haven a 10-2 lead, and Wormack later added two from the line to up the lead to 12-5 at the 5:16 mark.

·       Amanda Pfohl hit back-to-back threes to get the Owls within 12-11, which spawned a 12-3 SCSU run to end the quarter.

·       Imani Wheeler tied the game at 14-14 with a three at 1:51. After an Ocasio free throw to put New Haven back up one, Kiana Steinauer hit a jumper with four seconds left to give the Owls a 16-15 lead after one.

SECOND QUARTER

·       Pfohl hit another three-pointer coming out of the break to extend the Owls' run to 14-3 and take a 19-15 lead.

·       Wormack drew the Chargers even with back-to-back layups.

·       After five straight points from Southern, Kim Talley (Quakertown, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) laid one in off the Wormack assist and Pergola added a layup to cut it to 24-22.

·       Southern held a 30-26 lead with 3:53 until halftime. Ocasio found Katia Oge (New City, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) underneath the basket for two with 1:40 left.

·       Following a SCSU turnover with nine second left, Ocasio brought the ball upcourt and dished to DeBose on the left wing, who rattled in a shot at the horn to give the Chargers the 31-30 halftime advantage.

New Haven outshot the Owls 52.4-28.6 percent through the opening 20 minutes.

THIRD QUARTER

·       The two teams traded two baskets each, with SCSU tying the score each time.

·       DeBose hit a long jumper at 4:58 to spark a 6-0 run, as Wormack followed with a big block on the defensive end and turned it into a fastbreak bucket on the offensive end. She tacked on a pair of free throws on the next possession to make it 41-35 at 3:23.

·       Steinauer broke the spell with a steal and score for the Owls, before Kerr answered with two from the charity stripe with 18 seconds remaining to give the Chargers the 43-37 edge entering the fourth.

FOURTH QUARTER

·       Wormack opened the fourth with a steal and basket in transition to get the lead to eight.

·       The Owls got to within 47-43 with 6:15 remaining, but would get no closer as Kerr rattled off six straight for the Chargers to grow the lead back to 53-45 with 3:38 to play.

·       Pergola made it 57-47 with 1:08 left, giving New Haven its first double-digit lead.

·       Ocasio followed with a pair of free throws and Wormack connected on a layup with 17 seconds remaining to cap the Chargers scoring and give them a game-high 14-point, 61-47 cushion.

"I think this game can be a great momentum game that will help us get back on track," Buff said. "We shared the ball and made a lot of timely scoring plays down the stretch and were really composed. Our staff worked hard and had a really good scout."

The Chargers will look to keep the momentum rolling on the road this Saturday with another big matchup against Adelphi at 1:30 p.m.