Women's Basketball Falls at Hartford Wednesday

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team dropped a 68-52 decision to the Hartford Hawks on Wednesday night inside the Chase Family Arena. Graduate student Morgan Johnson knocked down four three-points to lead Central with a season-high 13 points and added four rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes of action.

CCSU falls to 0-8 and Hartford advances to 4-4 on the year.

Wednesday night's backyard matchup between the Blue Devils and Hawks got off to a fast-paced start. Johnson went 2-for-2 from downtown to start the game and found Lydon for CCSU's third three of the opening quarter at 4:41.

Hartford's Janelle Harrison went 5-for-6 from the floor for 11 points helping the Hawks take a 23-11 lead at the end of the first.

Junior guard Kiana Patterson converted a four-point play at the 4:36 mark in the second quarter. A series of Hartford personal fouls allowed CCSU to cut its 20-point lead down to 13, 37-24, on a pair of free throws from senior Brianna Jacobs.

The Blue Devils shot 55.6 percent from three-point range on 5-of-9 shooting but just 28.6 percent from the floor. Johnson led CCSU with 10 points and Harrison notched 13 points for the Hawks. Hartford was 17-of-36 (.472) in the first half.

Central forced three Hartford turnovers and four personal fouls as they held the Hawks scoreless for the first 5:07 of the second half. Johnson connected on her fourth trifecta of the night to cut the lead to 10 points at 40-30.

However, the Hawks responded with a 14-7 run to finish the third quarter and extended their lead to 54-37, heading into the final 10 minutes of action. The Blue Devils out-scored the Hawks 15-14 in the final quarter led by five points from rookie Ashley Forker.

Hartford converted 33 points off of Central's 26 turnovers. Three players notched double figure scoring for the Hawks led by season-high and game-high 19 points from Harrison. Junior Lindsey Abed grabbed a game-high and career-tying high 11 rebounds.

Patterson finished with 10 points including a perfect 7-for7 from the foul line. Lydon chipped in nine points and led the team on the glass with seven boards.

The Blue Devils will return to their home court next to host the Yale Bulldogs on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 1:00 p.m.