SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The New Haven women's basketball team fell in the semifinals of the Northeast 10 Conference Tournament on Thursday night with a 42-28 defeat at SW No. 1 seed Le Moyne. The Chargers end the season with an 18-12 record, six more wins than a season ago. After holding Le Moyne to just 11 points and leading by six at halftime, the Chargers were outscored 31-11 in the second half. Junior Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) had a team-high 11 rebounds and senior Alexandria Kerr (Montclair, N.J./Montclair) led the Chargers with eight points to finish her career with exactly 1,500 points, good for ninth in program history. Freshman guard Luzdali Ocasio (Davenport, Fla./New Hampton) collected five points on 2-of-4 shooting.

New Haven outshot Le Moyne by a 30.2-28.8 percent margin, and held a 26-16 edge in the paint. Defensively, the Dolphins outrebounded New Haven 38-28 and forced 19 Charger turnovers. Le Moyne will play Bentley in Sunday's championship game.

QUOTES FROM THE COACH: DEBORAH BUFF

·       "When I came in, we were trying to establish a culture and this team has laid the foundation for a great culture. To win 18 games, get to the conference semifinals, to have a lot of players coming back to go with the recruits we have coming, we have a bright future. I'm proud of our staff, our seniors and our underclassman for the leadership they showed. I really couldn't have asked for anything more."

·       "I think Le Moyne is a very good team and we wish them nothing but the best in the finals. We've been priding ourselves on defense all year and to hold them to 11 points, we thought we were in pretty good shape at halftime Even to hold them to 42 points, you'd think you give yourselves a chance."

·       "I thought we missed some shots that we generally hit and thought we were pressing a little too hard on offense."

FIRST QUARTER

·       The two teams combined to shoot 5-for-26 in the first quarter, with the Dolphins holding a 6-4 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Both teams started the game 1-for-9 from the field.

·       New Haven got a layup from Wormack to open the scoring before the Dolphins took a 4-2 lead at the 5:14 mark.

·       Wormack scored all four of the Chargers points in the opening quarter, ending Le Moyne's 6-0 run with a layup off a Pergola assists with 11 seconds to go in the frame.

SECOND QUARTER

·       Kerr started the second by picking off a pass and taking it the distance for the layup to knot the game 6-6. The hoop was part of a 10-0 run for New Haven, which gave the Chargers a 12-6 lead by the 3:56 mark.

·       Talley put New Haven up for the first time at 8-6, taking a feed from Kerr for the second-chance basket. Talley later added another layup to cap the 10-0 spurt.

·       The Dolphins' scoreless drought of 9:12 ended when McKayla Roberts drained a three to get the score within 12-9.

·       Ocasio then answered for New Haven, taking it coast-to-coast for a layup, and converted the three-point play after drawing the foul to put the Chargers back up by six.

·       Kerr hit a jumper with 13 seconds left to answer a pair of Le Moyne free throws to give the Chargers a 17-11 halftime lead.

·       The Chargers shot 38.1 percent, while holding the Dolphins to just 14.3 percent (4-for-28) shooting in the opening half.

·       The 17 points scored by the Chargers, along with the 28 combined points between the two teams was the fewest in any half of any Chargers' game this season.

·       The two teams combined for 19 turnovers, while New Haven held a 16-6 edge in the paint.

THIRD QUARTER

·       Roberts hit consecutive threes for Le Moyne as part of an extended 10-2 run to tie the game 21-21 at the 5:33 mark.

·       The Dolphins extended the run to 11-0 and 15-2 overall with a buzzer-beating three pointer from the top of the key after an offensive rebound to take a 26-21 lead after three quarters.

·       Le Moyne shot 40 percent in the third quarter, including 3-of-7 from long range while holding the Chargers to 2-of-11.

FOURTH QUARTER

·       Oge got New Haven within three with a layup on the opening possession.

·       After the Dolphins extended their run to 16-3, Pergola banked in a driving layup to get within 31-26 with 6:25 to play.

·       Pergola followed with a turnaround jumper on the next possession to get within five once again, but that was as close as the Chargers would get.

·       Roberts tacked on another three-pointer to get the lead to 10 for the first time, 38-28 with 2:50 to play.

·       Le Moyne scored the game's final nine points, as part of an 11-2 run to take the 42-28 final.