Women's Basketball Falls to Wagner on Monday
Senior Jessica Babe has 22 points for the Blue Devils in the loss.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team fell to Wagner College by a score of 75-63 on Monday night at Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils (10-16, 4-12 NEC) led by a point at the half, but a 46-point second half gave the Seahawks (8-18, 8-8 NEC) a 75-63 victory.
Wagner clinched a Northeast Conference Tournament berth with the victory, while the loss eliminates the Blue Devils from playoff contention.
Senior Jessica Babe led the Blue Devils with 22 points, but it was not enough to overcome Wagner's duo of Jasmine Nwajei and Jordyn Peck who each scored 25 points in the game.
The Blue Devils led 30-29 at the half largely because of 14 offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points. CCSU shot just 27.8% from the floor in the period.
Babe led CCSU with nine points in the first half. She was followed up by junior Johnna Fisher who scored seven points in just eight minutes of action off the bench.
In the second half, CCSU built a 45-35 lead, but it was erased by a 16-5 run by Wagner over a three and a half minute stretch from the 12:14 to 8:44 mark. The run gave the Seahawks a 51-50 lead.
CCSU would tie the score at 53-53 seconds later, but the Blue Devils were not able to retake the lead from Wagner.
The game featured 54 fouls, but neither team shot particularly well at the free throw line with the Blue Devils connecting at 65.4% (17-of-26) and the Seahawks making 25-of-44 (56.8%) attempts.
Wagner also outshot the Blue Devils from the field in the second half, but CCSU held a decisive advantage on the boards. The Blue Devils grabbed a season-high 61 rebounds. It is also the third time in the last four meetings with the Seahawks that CCSU has recorded 61 boards. In the other contest, earlier this season, the Blue Devils had 58 rebounds.
Senior Jaleen Thomas finished with 11 rebounds, which led all players. Fisher (9) and Babe (8) also had strong games on the glass.
With four assists in the game Babe passed Kerrianne Dugan for third on CCSU career assist list. She now has 367 in her career and trails only Melissa Prindiville's 378 and Nikki Flocco's 393.* Babe also improved her career total for points to 967.
The Blue Devils will close the season with a game at Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday and a home game vs. Bryant on Monday night.
*This release originally listed Jessica Babe as passing Kerrianne Dugan for second on CCSU's career assist list. Babe passed Dugan for third all-time.