WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With crucial Northeast-10 playoff seedings on the line, the New Haven women's basketball team erased an eight point second half deficit to close out the regular season with a 67-59 home victory over the visiting Saint Anselm Hawks. With the win, New Haven improves to 17-9 on the year and 12-8 in the NE10 earning the fifth seed and hosting rights versus No. 12 Franklin Pierce on Friday, February 24 with tipoff scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

"We told the team at practice and before the game we needed three things; unity, selflessness and energy," said head coach Debbie Buff. "We certainly produced! We shared the ball. Ro [Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden)], Cam [Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community)] and Kam [Kameryn King (Old Saybrook, Conn./Mercy)] were outstanding leaders. Aliyah Wright (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) was the floor general we needed for this game. I am super proud and happy for the entire team."

Leading the Chargers on the evening was graduate guard Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community) who racked up another 20+ performance, leading all players in the game with 22. DeBose finished the night shooting 8-of-15 from the field, with half of those field goals from outside the three point arc. She was also perfect in her two attempts at the free throw line.

Overall, DeBose was one of three Chargers in double figures, joined by fellow captain Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden) with 18 and senior point guard Kameryn King (Old Saybrook, Conn./Mercy) with 11. King also led the team with seven assists, while Deshaies collected her 13th double double of the season with 11 rebounds, leading her team to a 29-27 advantage on the boards.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting an even 50% from the field, connecting on 23-of-46 attempts. Among the 23 field goals, seven came from outside the three point arc, while they also finished 14-of-18 at the free throw line.

FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        New Haven came out of the gate to score on the opening possession of the game with Deshaies converting the first field goal attempt of the night thanks to an assist from King.

·        The Hawks responded to that opening bucket by scoring six unanswered for the first lead change and the only of the first half.

·        New Haven was able to pull within a single possession three times the remainder of the period, but was never able to knot the score or take the lead.

·        Saint Anselm built its lead out to as much as eight in the first 10 minutes, with that lead coming on a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining before the buzzer.

SECOND QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        Unlike the opening period, the Hawks would strike first in the second quarter, scoring the first four points to extend their lead into double digits and out to a dozen before the Chargers mustered their first points of the period.

·        Breaking that momentum for New Haven was Deshaies, again using a pass from King. It was the first of back-to-back buckets for Deshaies as she brought the deficit back to single digits.

·        After a pair of free throws provided a 10 point lead for the Hawks, New Haven went on a half ending rally that finished at 10-2 and with the Chargers trailing by a pair at the intermission, 24-22.

·        The beginning of that Charger rally was much to the credit of Aliyah Wright (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) who scored the bucket to break the Hawks momentum and them provided the assist to Deshaies for the second basket. DeBose and freshman Lindsay Hogan (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley) followed those two baskets up with a pair of three pointers, the second of which from Hogan knotted the score at 22.

·        Saint Anselm would get the final word, scoring with 12 seconds remaining to provide the final halftime margin.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGTHS

·        Once again, the Hawks would score first coming out of the intermission, hitting a three pointer on their first possession to extend their lead out to five.

·        New Haven answered with back-to-back buckets to cut the deficit down to one, 27-26, before the Hawks took the momentum back and built their lead out to eight with 3:14 remaining in the period.

·        The Charges answered that eight point deficit by outscoring Saint Anselm 10-3 in the final three minutes to go into the final intermission trailing by one with DeBose getting the final word of the frame on a bucket from long range thanks to the feed from King.

FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

·        Just like the ended the third period, New Haven opened up the fourth with a three pointer, this time off the fingertips of Hogan for the Chargers first lead of the game since the opening seconds of the game.

·        That lead change provided by Hogan would prove to be the last of the game as Saint Anselm would only manage to tie the score twice in the final frame.

·        Defensively, New Haven held Saint Anselm to just 5-of-17 from the field in the final 10 minutes, however four of those five field goals came from outside the arc to keep the Hawks in contention down the stretch.

·        New Haven's largest lead in the fourth came with under a minute to go when a pair of free throws from Deshaies put the margin at 64-53.

·        Saint Anselm would manage to get a pair of three pointers to fall in the final minute, but it would pull them no closer than six with New Haven closing out the game 3-of-4 at the free throw line to guarantee the victory.