NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Senior
Micah Wormack (Cumberland, Md./Allegany) scored her 1,000th career point early in the third quarter to help lead New Haven to a big 61-56 win at crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State on Wednesday. Wormack becomes the 20th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark, and is just the 14th player to have at least 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
Three Chargers scored at least 15 points in the contest, led by junior
Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) with 17 points, sophomore
Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) netted 16 points and nine rebounds while connecting on three three-pointers, and Wormack followed with 15 points and 12 rebounds on the night for her 15th career double-double. Freshman
Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden) also added nine points and nine rebounds on 4-of-5 from the field.
The Chargers shot just under 38 percent from the floor, including 41.7 percent clip from three-point range. New Haven also did major damage from the charity stripe, going 22-of-25 from the free throw line. Defensively, New Haven held a 47-31 edge in rebounding and held the Owls to 29.9 percent shooting.
FIRST QUARTER
- DeBose and Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) used three early free throws and Deshaies completed a three-point play as the Chargers found themselves down 10-7 at the 4:00 mark.
- After falling behind 13-7, The Chargers closed the quarter on a 6-2 run with the help of a jumper in the paint by Pergola, a putback from Deshaies and two free throws from Wormack, pulling within 15-13 after one.
SECOND QUARTER
- A three by DeBose and a jumper form Bionca Chambers (Bronx, N.Y./New Milford) put New Haven back up 18-17 just under four minutes in.
- Overall, DeBose scored 11 points in the quarter, including eight in a row at one point, helped by back-to-back threes that gave the Chargers a 26-25 lead.
- Ocasio found Deshaies in the lane with a bounce pass for a layup that pushed the lead to 28-25 in the closing moments.
THIRD QUARTER
- The Chargers opened the second half on a 9-2 run to get the lead to double digits for the first time, 37-27 with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter.
- Limiting SCSU to just five points in the frame, the Chargers carried a 39-30 lead into the fourth.
FOURTH QUARTER
- The lead grew as high as 11 in the opening minute after a pair of free throws from Pergola.
- The Owls chipped away and cut the deficit down to four with 2:24 remaining.
- Wormack answered with a big three-pointer to grow the edge back to seven with 45 seconds remaining.
- The Chargers went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line over the final 27 seconds to help hold off the Owls for the five-point win.
The Chargers will return home for the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to face nationally-ranked No. 10 Adelphi on Senior Day and Alumnae Day.
