Women's Basketball Falls on the Road to Bryant in NEC Opener

Sophomore Camden Musgrave sunk 21 points, but the Central Connecticut women's basketball team was outscored 34-23 in the second half and fell on the road to the Bryant Bulldogs 70-56 in its 2015-16 Northeast Conference opener on Saturday afternoon in Smithfield, RI. With the loss the Blue Devils drop to 3-9 overall on the season and 0-1 in Northeast Conference play. They will return to action next at home against LIU Brooklyn on Monday at 2 p.m.

The Blue Devils held the lead for 13:58 in the first half, but Bryant (4-8, 1-0 NEC) used an 8-0 run over the final 1:32 to take a 36-33 lead at halftime. Bryant jumped out to a quick 5-2 edge early in the first quarter, but the Blue Devils responded and closed out the quarter outscoring the Bulldogs 13-6 to lead 15-11 at the end of the first period.

Central was able to build its lead up to five, 18-13, early in the second quarter after Musgrave hit a corner three at the 9:08 mark. Bryant would slowly start to chip into the lead though and tied it back up, 21-21, with 6:39 left before halftime after Tiersa Winder buried a three of her own.

Central and Bryant would trade buckets until 1:32 left before the intermission when Bryant exploded for the 8-0 run to close the half. Winder hit back-to-back three's and Breanna Rucker capped off the run with a jumper to take a 36-33 edge over CCSU at the half.

Musgrave led all scorers with 14 first half points and also added a pair of assists and steals in the first stanza. Sophomore Giocelis Reynoso was the leading rebounded for the Blue Devils in the half with four in just eight minutes of floor time.

The Blue Devils exited the locker room in the second half and looked strong early in the third quarter, tying the game, 39-39, with 6:46 to play in the period after sophomore Emma Stroyan scored a layup and Musgrave hit one-of-two from the free throw line.

However, Bryant would then use three big runs to start to take control of the game and pull away from the Blue Devils in the second half. After the Blue Devils managed to tie the game Bryant answered with a 6-0 run, all coming on layups from Rucker. Central then battled back and got within one, 45-44 with 1:27 to play in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs used another end of the quarter run take a 50-44 lead heading into the final period.

Freshman Kiana Patterson drained a three at the 8:00 mark in the fourth quarter to pull CCSU within four, 54-50, but that would be as close as the Blue Devils would get for the remainder of the game. Bryant would use a 15-2 run over the next seven minutes to pull away and seal the 70-56 victory.

Musgrave finished with a team-high 21 points, recording the second 20+ game by a Blue Devil so far this season. She was seven-of-13 shooting from the floor, including four-of-seven from beyond the arc and also converted on three-of-six free throw attempts.

Rucker paced Bryant with a huge double-double coming on 26 points and 14 rebounds. She was nine-of-14 shooting from the floor and converted on eight-of-eight attempts from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs controlled the glass in the game out-rebounding the Blue Devils 43-31. They also saw a lot of success from the free throw line hitting 12-of-14 (85.7%) attempts compared to nine-of-18 (50.0%) for CCSU.

The Blue Devils will return to action next as they host LIU Brooklyn on Monday afternoon inside Detrick Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and all of the action can be seen live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.