Big Second Half Lifts Women's Basketball Over Saint Francis U Saturday

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team outscored Saint Francis U 37-21 in the second half to claim a 66-51 victory over the Red Flash on Saturday afternoon inside Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils defense held the Red Flash to just 20.0% (7-35) shooting in the second half and allowed just eight SFU points on 1-of-19 shooting in the fourth quarter to improve to 6-12 overall and 3-4 in Northeast Conference action. Saint Francis slips to 8-11 and 5-2 in the NEC with the loss.

The Blue Devils were led by senior TeJahne Malone who recorded her third double-double in the past four games with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Aleah Epps also recorded her first career double-double in the win with 10 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Camden Musgrave added 14 points for CCSU.

The Blue Devils trailed 30-29 at halftime, but opened the second half with a 6-2 run to take a 35-32 lead and would never trail again in the game. A triple by Musgrave followed by another one from Epps would put Central up for good.

Saint Francis would respond though and cut the CCSU lead to just one, 44-43, with 1:35 left in the third quarter, but the Blue Devils rattled off a 7-0 run to close out the quarter and take a 51-43 advantage heading into the final period. Senior Nicole Ferguson capped the spurt with a clutch trifecta with 25 seconds left on the clock.

The fourth quarter was all Blue Devils as they held the Red Flash to just eight points. They built their lead to as big as 17, 63-46, after a layup by Musgrave at the 2:21 mark and would go on to hold on for a 66-51 victory.

Central shot 41.5% (22-53) from the floor in the game, including 33.3% (6-18) from three and converted at a 50.0% (16-32) clip from the charity stripe. Saint Francis shot just 27.4% (20-73) from the field, 15.4% (4-26) from distance and 58.3% (7-12) from the free throw line.

The Blue Devils dominated the glass out rebounding the Red Flash 58-34, including 18-15 on the offensive end. They used those 18 offensive rebounds to outscore SFU 15-2 in second chance points. Saint Francis did force 22 CCSU turnovers, but were only able to turn those turnovers into seven points.

The first half proved to be a back-and-forth affair as there were six lead changes and neither team led by more than five points at any point in time. Saint Francis U used a 6-2 run to close the first quarter and led 14-11 after the opening period. SFU's Jessica Kovatch capped the run with a fadeaway jumper and fueled the Red Flash in the first quarter with nine points.

The Red Flash carried the momentum over into the second quarter and scored on their opening possession to increase the SFU run to 8-2 and take their largest lead of the first half, 16-11. The Blue Devils would respond though and followed with an 8-0 run of their own to take their largest lead of the half, 19-16, with 7:14 to play before halftime. Freshman Kiana Patterson hit two straight three pointers to put CCSU back on top.

Saint Francis U would go on to retake the lead and threatened to run away towards the end of the second quarter as they led 27-23 with just over a minute to play before the break, but CCSU closed with a 6-3 spurt and trailed by just one, 30-29, heading into the locker rooms. Musgrave ended the the half with three straight points for Central, including a runner in the lane just before time expired.

The CCSU women's basketball team will return to action next on Monday night as they return home to play their third of five straight home games for the Blue Devils. Central will host Robert Morris at 7 p.m. inside Detrick Gymnasium and all of the action can be seen live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.