Central Drains 10 Three-Pointers, Falls Short at Robert Morris on Monday
Graduate transfer Morgan Johnson led the way with 11 points and three three-pointers for CCSU.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team fell to Robert Morris 66-47 on Monday night at the Colonial's North Athletic Complex in Moon Township, PA. Central's bench out-scored RMU's reserves 19-16, who averaged 7.1 more points per game than its opponent's bench entering Monday night's contest.
CCSU (2-18, 2-7 NEC) made 10 three-pointers in the game, making it the fourth time the Blue Devils have connected on 10+ triples in a single game this season. Three of the 10 came off the hand of graduate transfer Morgan Johnson who led CCSU with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.
Robert Morris completes the month of January undefeated marking the first time since 2010 the team has been flawless for an entire month. The league leaders advance to 16-4 and 9-0 in the NEC.
Junior Denisha Gardener, in her third start this season, attacked the Colonials on the Blue Devils first couple possessions and found junior Kiana Patterson open for three to put CCSU on the board. The Colonials would go on an 11-0 run to open up a 13-3 lead with 3:17 left in the first quarter.
Three consecutive three-pointers from Johnson, junior Andi Lydon and freshman Emma McCamus, who shook off a couple of Colonials draining a triple at the buzzer, that created a 9-0 Blue Devil run against the NEC's top defense to make the score 13-12 after 10 minutes of Monday night action.
Central Connecticut locked up the score at 15-15 on Johnson's second three-pointer at the 7:03 mark in the second quarter. Robert Morris answered with a 12-2 run to create a double-digit lead at 27-17 with 4:32 left until the halftime break. In the stretch, Megan Callahan hit back-to-back threes to give RMU the momentum.
The Blue Devils sank six first half three-pointers on 6-of-15 (.400) shooting, including two in-a-row from junior Sydney Hines to close out the second quarter and make the score 31-22 at the midway point. Johnson led CCSU at the half with eight points and Megan Smith paced RMU with 10 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
Megan Smith tallied 10 third quarter points to help the Colonials out-score the Blue Devils 20-12.
Robert Morris led 51-34 heading into the final period.
Adding to their success from downtown, Hines and McCamus both hit threes midway through the fourth quarter allowing CCSU to accelerate on a 7-0 spurt, moving the score to 61-46 with 3:51 to go. The Blue Devils competed all the way to the final whistle as Robert Morris out-scored Central 5-1 in the closing minutes.
Smith finished with a game-high 22 points to lead three Colonials in double figures. Nneka Ezeigbo registered her seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
RMU shot 25-for-57 (.439) from the field and 8-of-18 (.444) from downtown. The Colonials scored 30-7 points in the paint and held a 42-32 edge on the glass.
Hines ended the night with a season-high 10 points. Gardener and Berube both collected six boards to lead CCSU on the glass.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team will finish off its three-game road tilt on Saturday, February 3 at Sacred Heart at 1:00 p.m. before returning to New Britain on Monday, February 5 to host Fairleigh Dickinson at 7:00 p.m.
