Women's Basketball Drops to Wagner 75-63 on Monday
Ten players scored for the Blue Devils.
Despite having its best first half shooting percentage so far this season, the Central Connecticut women's basketball team dropped a 75-63 decision to Wagner in its Northeast Conference home opener on Monday night inside Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain, CT. Senior Kiana Patterson led the team with 17 points shooting .364 from the floor including .400 from three point range and .700 from the charity stripe.
CCSU falls to 3-9 on the season and 0-2 in conference, while Wagner is now 2-11 overall and 1-1 in league play.
The game opened with both teams shooting an almost even percentage from the floor. Central capitalized on offense by finding players cutting to the basket. Sophomores Ashley Forker and Ashley Berube found teammates Tiffany Slicklein and Emma McCamus on back door cuts to the rim for easy layups.
CCSU fell down 29-23 before Patterson started to heat up connecting on 4-5 (.800) shots including 2-3 (.666) from downtown in the first half. Wagner led most of the first half and hit back to back shots giving them a 38-33 advantage at the break.
At halftime, Patterson led all scorers with 16 points and Central recorded its best first half shooting percentage so far this season at 45.8 percent, including 37.5 percent from three-point range. Wagner shot 51.7 percent and just 16.7 percent from deep.
The Seahawks continued its offensive run hitting its first three shots to open the second half before junior Bruna Vila Artigues lobbed the ball to Berube on the block for her fourth basket of the game. Central continued to be aggressive in the paint with baskets from Berube and senior Sydney Hines but entered the fourth quarter down 57-47.
Wagner only outscored Central by two points in the fourth quarter, but increased the lead to as much as 17 with 3:24 left to play. The Seahawks went on to win 75-63.
Berube continued to show her defensive presence in the paint recording her second game in a row with five blocks. She also had 11 points, five rebounds, and one assits. Forker was the team leader in rebounds with seven. Freshman Forever Toppin scored a career-high seven points, dished out one assist, along with two steals.
Taylah Simmons posted her third double-double of the season with 19 points, 11 rebounds. Alayshia Dailey finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Seahawks and Joellen How scored 12 points.
The Blue Devils go on a two-game road trip first to Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m., then Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m. a week from today.
