WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven women’s basketball team claimed its first win of the 2011-12 season as they defeated Northeast-10 opponent Le Moyne, 79-63. Three
Chargers scored in double-figures as they led for the majority of the game on Saturday afternoon at Charger Gymnasium.
New Haven is now 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the NE-10. Le Moyne drops to 1-5 and 0-5 in the conference.
The game went back-and-forth throughout the first 10 minutes of play. Up by one with 12:50 to play, Monica Schacker (Doylestown, Pa./Germantown Academy) connected on a three-pointer followed by two foul shots from Ashley LeBlanc (Methuen, Mass./Methuen) to put the Chargers ahead by six. Later in the half, Anh-Dao Tran (Webster, Mass./Holy Name) hit one from behind-the-arc at the 7:12 mark and once again at 6:04 to give New Haven its first double-digit lead of the half, up 11.
A three-point play several minutes later from Emma Cronk cut the deficit to eight but a made foul shot and a three-pointer from Schacker put New Haven up 12 with 3:24 remaining. They led by double-figures the remainder of the half as they took a 37-26 lead at the break. The Chargers were 6-for-11 from downtown while Le Moyne shot 0-for-6 from behind-the-arc.
A Dolphins’ lay-up followed by a three-pointer cut the deficit to six within the first minute of play in the second half. However, their hot start would not continue and another three-pointer, this time from Elizabeth Cruso (Westerly, R.I./Westerly), gave New Haven another double-digit lead with 17:41 to play. Minutes later, the Chargers made three straight lay-ups to give them their highest lead of the game up to that point, up 15 with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Trailing by 14, Le Moyne scored nine straight points to cut the deficit to five. However, the Chargers maintained composure and hit three straight three-pointers to regain a double-digit lead. Two of those field goals came from Bria Moore (West Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) within 30 seconds of each other on consecutive possessions. She also added another one less than two minutes later as she increased New Haven’s lead to 13 with 3:49 left in regulation.
The Chargers lead was too high for Le Moyne to overcome as New Haven pulled away with a 79-63 win. As a team, they shot 27-for-57 (47.4%) from the floor and 12-25 (48%) from behind-the-arc. Tran lead all scorers with a season-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. She also went 4-for-8 from downtown and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. The sophomore added a game-high seven assists and grabbed five boards. Ayana Duncanson (Elmont, N.Y./Francis Lewis) and Moore joined Tran in double-figures. Duncanson added a season-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting and recorded six rebounds. Moore scored 14 points and was 4-for-6 from deep. Aquillin Hayes (Harlem, N.Y./Wings Academy) owned the glass and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds.
New Haven is back on action on Tuesday, December 6. They will travel to Springfield, Mass. to face AIC at 5:30 p.m.
