Women's Basketball Falls To Manhattan in Season Opener

The Central Connecticut Women's basketball team fell short (52-35) on the road in their season opener Monday night at Manhattan College.

GAME INFORMATION

FINAL SCORE: Manhattan 52, CCSU 35

RECORDS: CCSU 0-1-0, (0-0-0) NEC; Manhattan 1-0-0, (0-0-0 NEC)

LOCATION: Draddy Gymnasium | Riverdale, NY

KEY MOMENTS 

• The Blue Devils played solid early defense and were a few shots away from a nice run. A charge taken by Belle Lanpher forced a Manhattan timeout midway through the first quarter

• Lanpher gave the Blue Devils their first lead, 6-4, at the 5:46 mark, and then after the charge to force a Manhattan timeout, knocked down a three-pointer for the Blue Devils' largest lead, 9-4

• The Blue Devils forced five turnovers in the opening period and held the Jaspers to nine points on 5-13 shooting

• Samora Watson got hot in the second quarter and scored eight points with three straight baskets that gave Central a 17-13 lead 4:25 into the quarter. 

• "The Jaspers went to a larger lineup during the second quarter that resulted in an 11-1 run that was fueled by three blocked shots, to build a 24-18 halftime advantage. 

• CCSU scored the opening points of the third quarter, to close within four, 24-20, before Manhattan went on a 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 32-22.  

• Back-to-back buckets from Meghan Kenefick with two minutes remaining in the third quarter cut the Jasper lead to 32-26. 

• Manhattan took a thirteen-point lead early in the fourth quarter after a three-pointer from Jayla James and two two-point buckets from Jade Blagrove. 

• Belle Lanpher picked up two fouls late in the game leaving the Blue Devils without their leading scorer with 1:54 left in the fourth quarter trailing 46-35.

NUMBERS TO KNOW 

• 19 - The Blue Devils wreaked havoc on the defensive end and scored 12 points off 19 Jasper turnovers.

NOTES

• Samora Watson led the way with 15 points and Lanpher added 14 to account for 83% of the Blue Devils scoring. 

• The game marks the head coaching debut of Way Veney, the Blue Devils' head coach

• The Blue Devils shot 21.0% from the field with Watson and Lanpher the only CCSU players to score in the first half.

• CCSU dished out 8 assists on 14 baskets made. They also out-rebounded the Jaspers on the offensive end 17-16. 

UP NEXT...

The Blue Devils travel to Syracuse on Nov 10 (Fri) and will tip off at 7:00 PM EST.