WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Anh-Dao Tran (Webster, Mass./Holy Name) scored a career-high 30 points, but the University of New Haven women’s basketball team was tripped by a late Southern New Hampshire rally, 72-71, on Saturday at Charger Gymnasium.
Tran’s 30 points mark the most by a Charger since Dominique Stellmacher poured in 31 against Adelphi on Feb. 23, 2011. The junior shot 11-for-16 from the floor with four three-pointers. Her 101 career treys to date move her ahead of Lauren Hood and into fourth place on New Haven’s all-time list.
The Chargers (6-9, 5-6 NE-10) also got double-figure performances from Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) and Briana Bradford (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross), who finished with 11 points apiece. As a unit, New Haven shot 25-for-64 (39.1 percent) from the field, 9-for-21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range and 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Sloane Sorrell led the Penmen (8-7, 5-6 NE-10) with 25 points and a game-best 11 rebounds. Her double-double outing included the game-tying layup with 2.6 seconds to go and the game-winning free throw with less than one second remaining. The Penmen collectively shot 28-for-61 (45.9 percent) from the floor, 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) from downtown and 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from the stripe.
The Chargers played from behind for most of the first half, faced a deficit as large as seven points at 32-25 with 6:05 to go in the period. At that point, New Haven reeled off the next 10 points – fueled by four Tran points and triples from Lauren Hebert (North Reading, Mass./North Reading) and Bradford – to head into the locker room leading, 35-34.
The Blue and Gold continued the run after the intermission. Tran had the Chargers’ first 10 points of the half as the run extended to 15-2 to start the period and 25-4 in total over a span of 11:06 of clock time. New Haven’s lead grew as large as 15 points, 58-43, with 10:25 to play and remained in double figures up to the 4:16 mark.
The Penmen continued to rally, trimming the margin to one point at 70-69 with 1:06 left. After consecutive stops each defense, Hayes came up a steal and Bradford was fouled to go to the line with 12 seconds remaining. The freshman hit one of two from the stripe, but Sorrell countered with a bucket down low with just 2.6 seconds left to knot the game at 71-71.
Sorrell then pressured the ball on the inbounds pass and came away with a steal. The Penmen senior was fouled with 0.5 seconds left and drained the second of two free throws as SNHU escaped Charger Gymnasium with a 72-71 decision.
Hebert finished with eight points off the bench for the Chargers. Ashley LeBlanc (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) added four, Nikita Reddy (Germantown, Md./Germantown) scored three and Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) and Ayana Duncanson (Elmont, N.Y./Francis Lewis) capped the scoring with two points apiece.
