Balanced Attack Leads Women's Hoops Past Fairleigh Dickinson on Senior Day Saturday

Sophomore Emma Stroyan led seven Blue Devils who scored at least seven points, matching her career-high with 12, as the Central Connecticut women's basketball team defeated the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, 71-59, on Senior Day on Saturday in New Britain. The win improves Central to 11-17 overall and 8-9 in Northeast Conference action with one game left to play in the regular season.

Stroyan matched her career-high with 12 points to lead the way for the Blue Devils. Senior Kayla Miller added 11 and junior Aleah Epps chipped in with 10 to join Stroyan in double-figures in the win.

The first quarter proved to be a back-and-forth affair over the first six minutes of action until Central went on a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half, 16-9, with two minutes left to play in the opening period. Both teams would trade buckets spanning the final minutes and the Blue Devils led 18-13 after one.

The Knights (11-19, 8-9 NEC) chipped away at Central's lead in the second quarter, eventually tying the game, 23-23, after a Kiana Brown jumper at the 5:38 mark before halftime. That would be as close as Fairleigh Dickinson would come in the game though as freshman Andi Lydon answered with a layup to give CCSU the lead for good.

The Lydon layup started a 6-1 spurt by the Blue Devils to close out the first half as they took a 29-24 lead in the locker room. Lydon led the way for Central with seven points in the first half and Epps added five.

The second half was all Blue Devils as they outscored the Knights, 23-18, in the third quarter to build a 52-42 heading into the final period. The Knights got within, 45-39, with 3:17 to play before Central rattled off another 6-1 spurt to go up 12, 52-40. Sophomore Camden Musgrave capped the burst with a triple at the 1:31 mark left to play in the third quarter.

CCSU continued to build on its lead early in the fourth quarter, taking their largest lead of the game, 62-48, following a layup from freshman Kiana Patterson with 5:55 left to play in regulation. The Knights would make a late push and cut the Blue Devil lead to seven, 62-55, with 3:09 to play, but Central closed the game outscoring FDU 9-4 to earn the 71-59 victory.

The Blue Devils shot 41.3% (26-63) in the game, including 29.4% (5-17) from beyond the arc. They were 66.7% (14-21) from the chalk and finished with 19 assists, led by Patterson who had a career-high six.

Fairleigh Dickinson was 39.7% (23-58) shooting from the floor, including just 16.7% (2-12) from three. They hit 55.0% (11-20) from the free throw line. Erika Livermore finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the Knights in the loss.

The CCSU women's basketball team will return to action on Monday night as they travel to St. Francis Brooklyn for their regular season finale. Tip-off between the Blue Devils and Terriers is slated for 7 p.m. and all of the action can be seen live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.