Women's Basketball Drops Contest at UMass on Wednesday

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team fell to Atlantic 10 opponent, Massachusetts, 76-37, Wednesday afternoon at William D. Mullins Memorial Center in Amherst, MA. Sophomore Kiana Patterson led the blue and white with 14 points, and senior forward, Giocelis Reynoso tied her career-high in rebounds, pulling down 13 in just 15 minutes of action.

CCSU falls to 1-3 on the year, and UMass moves their record to 3-2. Prior to Wednesday, Head Coach Beryl Piper was a perfect 3-0 in the previous three meetings between the two squads.  The Blue Devils were limited 22.2% shooting compared Massachusetts' 48.4% from the field. 

The Minutewomen started the game on a 7-0 run, up until freshman Ashley Chin put the Blue Devils on the board with a pull-up jumpshot from 15 feet out. CCSU went on a seven minute scoring drought, as UMass shot 10-for-16 (62.5%) from the floor, led by freshman Hailey Leidel's eight point's in the opening 10 minutes of play. 

Despite the slow start, Central found their offense in the second quarter, out-scoring the Minutewomen 21-14. Freshman Cebria Outlow sparked the momentum for the Blue Devils, when she grabbed an offensive rebound off of an Andi Lydon foul shot. Sophomore Kiana Patterson connected on three consecutive three-pointers to cut the Central deficit to nine points, with 1:32 left before the break. 

UMass forced 25 Blue Devil turnovers, and converted 33 points off of the extra opportunities.

Through 20 minutes of first half action, sophomore Andi Lydon dished out four assists to her one turnover, and Patterson went 4-7 (57.1%) from three. Before Wednesday's match, Patterson sank just four three's altogether through the first three games of the season.

Massachusetts came out of the halftime gate scoring on its first three possessions, and did not look back from there. Maggie Mulligan scored a game-high 33 points and snagged 12 rebounds for UMass. Hailey Lediel and Ryan Holder contributed 16 and 14 points, respectively.

The only fourth quarter offense for Central came on a 3-for-4 effort from the foul line from Reynoso. Lydon ended the game with eight rebounds, and a career-high five assists. 

Central will travel to South Orange, New Jersey following the Thanksgiving holiday, for the Seton Hall Thanksgiving Classic. The women's basketball team will face tournament the Pirates of Seton Hall on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 2:30 p.m. at Walsh Gymnasium. The Blue Devils will play at noon on Sunday against San Diego State or Texas-Arlington, depending on Saturday's results.