Women's Basketball Falls In Ohio Finale At Cincinnati

Graduate student Meghan Kenefick scored 15 points, two off her career high set at UMass earlier this season, and grabbed six rebounds plus freshman Jessica Farrell notched a career-best 10 points on Tuesday, but it was not enough, as the Central Connecticut State women's basketball team wrapped up a tough, two-game road trip to the State of Ohio with a 78-49 non-conference loss at Big 12 member, the University of Cincinnati.  CSSU is now 1-9 overall so far this season, and the host Bearcats up their season mark to 5-2.

GAME INFORMATION |BOX SCORE

Score:   Cincinnati 78, CCSU 49
Records: CCSU (1-9, 0-0 NEC), Cincinnati (5-2, 0-0 Big 12)
Location: Fifth Third Arena |Cincinnati, Ohio

KEY MOMENTS

• Jessica Farrell got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard quickly on Tuesday morning when she tied the game at 2-2 with a basket just 56 seconds into action.
• The host Bearcats would go on an 8-0 run over the next 3:04 to take an eight-point lead at 10-2. The run was stopped by a layup by CCSU's Alonna Sellers at 5:49 mark of the first quarter off an assist from Selina Monestime.
• Central would battle back outscoring the hosts 5-2 over the next 1:25 to cut the Cincinnati lead to just three points, 12-9, with 4:22 to go in the first quarter.
• Cincinnati led 19-13 after the opening frame of play on Tuesday.  CCSU shot the ball well over the first 10 minutes of action, going 6-of-10 (60.0%) from the floor with Jessica Farrell leading the team with four points.
• The host Bearcats opened the second quarter on an 11-5 spurt to grab a 10-point lead, 30-20, at the media break with 4:51 remaining in stanza number two.
• The teams headed into the halftime break with Cincinnati holding a 38-23 advantage.  Meghan Kenefick led the Blue Devils in scoring over the first two quarters with eight points, and she was followed by Amaya Williams with five points.  Alonna Sellers grabbed a team-high three rebounds in the first half.  CCSU shot 43.5 percent from the field (10-of-23) over the first twenty minutes of play, including knocking down 3-of-9 three-point shots, but the visitors were plagued by 12 turnovers that the Bearcats turned into 17 points.
• Cincinnati opened the second half with a quick 9-2 run over the first 2:44 of the third quarter to increase its lead to 22 points, 47-25, over the Blue Devils.
• A made three-point shot by Cierra Pearson with 5:17 to play in the third quarter stopped a 12-0 Bearcats' run to make the score, 52-28, in favor of the hosts.
• Central held Cincinnati without a field goal over the final 5:31 of the third quarter and finished the frame on a 7-2 run to make the score, 56-35, in favor of the Bearcats heading into the fourth period.
• Cincinnati outscored CCSU, 22-14, in the fourth quarter, and finished the game on a 15-3 run over the last 4:55 of play to make the final score, 78-49.

NUMBER TO KNOW

1–Tuesday was the first ever meeting in women's basketball between CCSU and Cincinnati.

NOTES

• Meghan Kenefick scored 15 points on Tuesday, as she went 3-for-6 from behind the three-point line.  Those 15 points are two off her career high of 17 set earlier this season at UMass on November 10, 2024.  With her six rebounds at Cincinnati, Meghan is now 20 shy of 500 career boards.
• Jessica Farrell's 10 points on Tuesday are a career high topping the nine points she scored at Fairfield on November 20 of this year.
• Amaya Williams, who led the Blue Devils with 38 minutes played against the Bearcats, fell just one point shy of giving CCSU a trio of double-digit scorers on the day, as she finished with nine points.
• Cierra Pearson finished with five rebounds for the Blue Devils against Cincinnati.
• Central missed only one free throw on Tuesday going 9-of-10 from the foul line, but Cincinnati had a huge advantage from the charity stripe going 31-of-38 from the line.
• The Blue Devils committed 24 turnovers to only seven miscues by Cincinnati on Tuesday.  The Bearcats were able to convert those CCSU turnovers into a total of 30 points.
• Cincinnati finished with a 36-25 rebounding advantage in the game, and the hosts also grabbed a total of 14 offensive rebounds which led to a total of 18 second chance points.  The hosts also outscored the Blue Devils by 18 points in the paint holding a 30-12 advantage in that statistical category.
• Senior Amaya Williams has started all 10 games for CSSU so far this season.

UP NEXT

• Central returns to the friendly confines of Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday, December 7 when Morgan State comes to town for a 1:00 p.m. tilt.