WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The New Haven women's basketball team lead for all but 90 seconds as they cruised to a 69-51 win over crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University to extend its all-time series record against the Owls. With the win, New Haven Improved to 7-7 on the season and 4-6 in the Northeast-10 Conference.

"We talked about playing with urgency and following the scout and we did just that tonight," said head coach Debbie Buff. "We followed the game plan and shared the ball (20 assists). We had two solid practices and it translated on the court.

Cam [DeBose] was exceptional on both sides of the ball. Leighanna [Lister] played aggressively and finished with a double double. Our staff is extremely happy and proud of the entire team. This is Our City!"

Experience is what carried the way for New Haven with graduate students Leighanna Lister (Kutztown, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) and Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) leading New Haven, combining for 43 of the Chargers 69 points. DeBose led all scorers in the game, coming up three points shy of her career-high with 27 points, connecting on 10-of-16 attempts from the field. Among those were four from outside the arc, while she was also a perfect 3-of-3 at the free throwline. Additionally, she added a pair of assists, three steals and a block.

Lister completed her first double double of the season, the first for any Chargers other than Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden). Lister's lucky number was 16 as she finished the night with 16 points and 16 rebounds, the latter of which ties a career-high that she set last season against Nyack. Lister finished the night 7-of-13 from the field and also added a pair of assists.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 50.9 percent from the floor, the fourth time this season shooting 50% or better. Overall, the Chargers connected on 29-of-57 from the field, including six three pointers and went 5-of-6 at the free throw line. They also held a commanding lead in the battle of the boards with a 43-31 advantage.

Defensively, New Haven held their crosstown 11 points under their season average of 62.7 points, while holding their two leading scores to just 11 combined points with the pair entering the game averaging more than 25 points combined.

New Haven will head back north for the third time in an 11 day stretch as they head to Waltham to face one of the two one-loss teams in the conference standings, Bentley on Wednesday, January 18. Tip off from the Dana Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team.

FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        DeBose's big night started right out of the gates when she hit a three pointer on the Chargers first possession off a feed from Kameryn King (Old Saybrook, Conn./Mercy), her first of six assists on the day.

·        The Owls would go on to score the next five points to take their first and only lead of the game. A jumper from Deshaies with 7:08 to play in the opening quarter regained the lead for New Haven and they would never relinquish it the remainder of the game.

·        Despite never trailing the remainder of the game, the Chargers were only able to build their lead to four in the opening quarter, that coming on a fastbreak layup from DeBose as she picked off a bad pass from the Owls and went the distance to the hoop for a 15-11 lead.

·        DeBose completed the bookend of the quarter when she scored the final points on a jumper with 19 seconds remaining, giving her seven points total in the frame and providing her team a three-point lead at the break.

SECOND QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        New Haven once again opened the period with a three pointer as its first bucket, this time with Mary Bacaliu providing the long-range missile thanks to another pass from King.

·        A minute later, New Haven opened up seven-point lead with a DeBose jumper in the paint just inside the free throw line provided a seven-point advantage 22-15.

·        The Owls looked regain control, cutting New Haven's lead down to a single point just over three minutes later, but DeBose wasn't going to let the lead be wasted, completing a three-point play on an an-one layup to break up a 6-0 run for SCSU.

·        After Southern Connecticut pulled the lead to within three, the Chargers defense kicked in, holding the Owls to just one bucket the remainder of the half as they build a nine-point lead at the intermission.

·        All of the Chargers final eight points in the half came from Debose as she was 2-of-2 in three-point attempts during that stretch and scored a pair in a perfect trip at the free throw line. She would close-out the opening half already over the 20 point plateau, adding 13 second quarter points alone.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        Just 32 seconds into the second half New Haven had already built its lead to double figures with a layup from King providing an 11point cushion.

·        The Owls would manage to cut the lead back to single digits just once, but New Haven answered by scoring eight unanswered to built its lead to 17 with 6:31 to play in the frame. All four buckets from New Haven in that run came from different players, and including King's to open the period, five players all found the hoop in the first four minutes.

·        Just two minutes after SCSU broke up that eight0point rally, the Chargers opened up their first 20-point lead thanks to a hook shot from Alyssa Stevenson (Watertown, N.Y./South Jefferson Central) from the free throw line.

·        The Chargers would build its third quarter lead to as much as 22 on two occasions, the last of which came with 90 seconds remaining when Lindsay Hogan (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley) drilled a three pointer thanks to a helping hand from DeBose.

FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        New Haven managed to keep that lead within a couple points of the 20-point margin the entirety of the fourth quarter, never letting it slip under 16.

·        After an opening three from the Owls, Lister would go back-to-back with DeBose to regain the 22-point lead. Lister's bucket was the second of the pair as she scored on a putback.

·        That bucket was the first of three-straight for Lister as she built her season-high in points up to the 16-point mark, hitting that with a layup inside of four minutes to play.