Blue Devils Travel to Merrimack for an NEC Quarterfinal Matchup Monday Night
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team travels to North Andover for an NEC Quarterfinal matchup.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team travels to North Andover for an NEC Quarterfinal matchup. The game will be streamed for free on NEC Front Row with a 7:00 tip. The game will be played at Lawler Arena.
The Blue Devils and Warriors are meeting for the third time this season. Merrimack leads the all-time series, 6-4, since joining the Northeast Conference in 2019.
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OPENING NOTES
- Central Connecticut (8-20, 7-9) is back on the road to face The Merrimack Warriors (11-18, 8-8).
- The Blue Devils are coming off a 70-56 loss to FDU on Thursday night. Merrimack is coming off a 79-65 loss to Wagner as well.
- Head coach Way Veney is in her first season at the helm of the Blue Devils. She is the first coach in history to make the playoffs in her first season as head coach.
- This is the first postseason matchup between CCSU and Merrimack. Central is the 5 seed while Merrimack is the 4 seed in the NEC tournament.
WITH A WIN...
- Central would tally their first quarterfinal victory since 2016-2017.
- CCSU would beat The Warriors on the road for the first time since 2022.
- Coach Way Veney would notch her first playoff victory in the NEC.
NOTABLES
- Samora Watson's regular season campaign was one to remember for the Blue Devil sophomore. She tallied 466 points good for 6th all-time in a single season at CCSU. Watson has the top three scoring performances this season in the NEC. She dropped 38 points at New Hampshire (12/02/23), 37 vs Merrimack (02/03/24), and 35 at FDU (01/25/24). She averaged 17.2 points per game (2nd in NEC), 5.6 rebounds (8th in NEC), and shot .405 from the floor good for 5th overall in the conference.
- Belle Lanpher averaged 12.6 points per game (366 total points) for her best campaign as a Blue Devil. She scored her 1,000th point vs Le Moyne on February 15th and ranks 18th all-time with 1,049 career points. She ranks 6th in the NEC in assists (2.83) and is the leader in free throw percentage (.878).
- Lanpher and Meghan Kenefick announced their return for next season. The Blue Devils will bring back their entire team next season.
- The Blue Devils rank 5th in points per game (58.1) which is 4.5 points less than The Warriors give up on average (62.6). Central is the conference leader in free throw percentage (.766) and second in field goal percentage (.387). CCSU ranks last in three-point FG% (.247) while Merrimack ranks 2nd in the conference (.282).
- Merrimack is at the top of the ranks in offensive rebounding (38.4) while CCSU ranks last (31.9). In two games The Warriors are +11 in offensive rebounds vs CCSU.