GAME DAY INFORMATION DATE: Feb. 5, 2022 LOCATION: Charger Gymnasium, West Haven, Conn. GAME DAY LINKS LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

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OPENING TIP
The University of New Haven women's basketball team dropped their 11th game of the season in a 43-58 loss to the Pace Setters on Wednesday. The Chargers will now return home to defend their home court against the Le Moyne Dolphins on Feb. 5 at 1:30 P.M. in the first of three straight home games. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
History has favored the Dolphins in this NE10 showdown. New Haven trails in the series, 17-20, while holding a record of 11-9 when playing in West Haven. The Chargers enter the matchup on a two-game losing streak after falling to Le Moyne earlier in the season, 48-65, on Nov. 20, 2021. The first time these two programs competed was on Jan. 23, 1993 in which Le Moyne edged out New Haven, 75-74.

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
The Chargers enter this weekend matchup against Le Moyne looking for their second-straight home win after defeating the Saint Michael's Purple Knights, 68-53, on Jan. 27 for their first conference win on the season.

Since then, the Chargers took a detour to Pleasantville, N.Y. where they suffered a 43-58 loss to the Pace Setters in a tightly contested battle.

New Haven opened up scoring as Briana Van Cleaf (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) buried a three-pointer 24 seconds into the game off an assist from Kameryn King (Old Saybrook, Conn./Mercy). A Marigona Bacaliu (Worcester, Mass./Putnam Science Academy) jumper in the paint less than a minute later gave the Chargers an early 5-0 lead, their largest of the game. The Setters ended the first quarter on a 14-4 run to take the lead and never let up.

Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) enjoyed a bounce-back game, scoring 12 points on 5-12 shooting while draining her only attempted three-pointer. She ranks ninth of all NE10 scorers with an average of 14.8 points per game.

DeBose continues her dominate defensive campaign, tallying a block and another three steals. She leads the team with 42 steals and is tied with Deshaies with eight blocks on the year.

Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden) put up six points in the effort but racked up 11 rebounds. The junior forward has now reached 11+ rebounds in 11 of the 16 games she's played in. Deshaies is also third in the conference with 10.6 rebounds per game while ranking first with a 52.9 field goal percentage.

Bacaliu made her fourth start of the season, totaling five points and a career-high six rebounds while recording two steal, as well.

After dropping a career-high 16 points against Saint Michael's, King was held to four points, all of which came from the line, as she only attempted one shot. Sophomore Gabrielle Stickle (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) ended last game with five points on 2-6 shooting while junior forward Alyssa Stevenson (Watertown, N.Y./South Jefferson Central) recorded three points, a rebound and an assist.

Freshman guard Charlotte Bassett (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) made her only attempted field goal to finish with two points while Brianna Diaz (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) sunk a three-pointer off an assist from DeBose as time expired.

On the boards, the Chargers were outrebounded, 35-26, as they only pulled in a season-low two offensive rebounds. New Haven ranks ninth as a team in total rebounds (38.4) while ranking third in offensive boards (12.9) and 11th in defensive rebounds (25.5).

New Haven ranks 12th in the conference with 57.8 points per game but they are also seventh in the NE10 with 62.2 points allowed per game. The Chargers shoot 36.8 percent on the year while allowing opponents to shoot 37.6 percent. 
 

SCOUTING THE DOLPHINS
The Le Moyne Dolphins enter the matchup 12-4 on the season and 10-3 during conference play. Le Moyne is currently on a one-game losing streak after falling 51-62 to the Southern Connecticut State Owls on Thursday. Despite the loss, the Dolphins are still second in the NE10 Southwest Division standings, only behind Pace.

On offense, the Dolphins are led by Emma Brinker, who averages 16.4 points per game and 10.2 rebounds. Brinker is currently sixth in the NE10 in points per game and 12th in FG% with 47.9%. Brinker was named week 11 NE10 Player of the Week after averaging 24.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in Le Moyne's 1-1 week. She recorded 20 points and 14 rebounds in a loss at Franklin Pierce on Thursday and tallied 28 points, including 14 in each half, and 10 rebounds in a 74-63 win over Assumption on Saturday. 

Brinker is coming off a season-low four point effort in which she shot 1-14. Leading the Dolphins in the loss, was junior guard Lytoya Baker, who had a 21 point-eight rebound effort while shooting 9-12. Baker averages 10.7 points per game and 6.7 rebounds on the season.

Also averaging double-digit points are Erin Fouracre and Saeeda Abdul-Aziz, who average 12.0 and 10.1 respectively. Fouracre is the Dolphin's leader in assists, tallying 74 total assists on the season, fourth in the NE10. Abdul-Aziz has been Le Moyne's primary threat from beyond the perimeter, shooting 35-111 (31.5%).

The Dolphins have only seen six players start at least one game this season with the most recent lineup being Brinker, Fouracre, Baker, Abdul-Aziz and Jenna Zimmerman.

On defense, Le Moyne averages 8.9 steals and 3.6 blocks while Brinker leads the team in blocks (24) and Baker leads in steals (35). Seven players on the Dolphins have tallied 10+ steals on the year while two have racked up 10+ blocks.

Le Moyne ranks eighth in the NE10 with an average of 62.8 points per game, while shooting an eighth best 37.5 percent from the field. The Dolphins allow a NE10 third-least 57.6 points per game to their opponent on 36.6 percent shooting, fourth in the conference. As a whole, they rank first in the conference, averaging 45.0 rebounds for a +9.4 margin.

The Dolphins boast a roster comprised of eight guards and five forwards. The class makeup is divided into four freshmen, no sophomores, four juniors, four seniors and one graduate student.

Mary Grimes was named the sixth head women's basketball coach in program history and the first African-American to serve as head coach of an intercollegiate athletic program in Le Moyne history on June 15, 2021. Grimes previously served two separate stints as an assist coach at Le Moyne and returns after a two-year term as an assistant coach at Xavier University. 

NEXT UP
The Chargers will continue their homestand as they host the College of Saint Rose on Tuesday. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 5:30 P.M. at Charger Gymnasium.