
Big Second Half Rally Falls Just Short As Women's Basketball Falls To Morgan State
Bears Defeat The Blue Devils, 53-48
Trailing by 15 points at halftime, 33-18, the host Central Connecticut State University women's basketball team battled back to take 46-45 lead with 2:48 to play in the contest, but the visiting Morgan State University Bears closed the game out on a 5-0 run to post a 53-48 non-conference win in New Britain on Saturday afternoon. CCSU is now 1-10 overall so far this season, and with the victory, Morgan State ups its overall season record to 5-7. Seeing her first action of the season, graduate student Belle Lanpher led Central with a game-high 13 points, and she was joined in double figures by senior Amaya Williams with 12 points and freshman Selina Monestime with 10 points. Monestime finished with her first career double-double on Saturday, as she also pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds. Morgan State was led by Jael Butler, who finished with her own double-double of 12 points and a game-best 13 rebounds.
GAME INFORMATION |BOX SCORE
Score: Morgan State 53, CCSU 48
Records: CCSU (1-10, 0-0 NEC), Morgan State (5 -7, 0-0 MEAC)
Location: Detrick Gymnasium |New Britain, Conn.
KEY MOMENTS
- CCSU's Alonna Sellers netted Saturday's first basket 54 seconds into play to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
- Belle Lanpher's first basket of the season, a three-point shot, gave Central a 7-4 lead at the 5:33 mark of the opening quarter.
- Morgan State closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run over the final 1:23 of the stanza to lead 15-9 after 10 minutes.
- The Bears would extend their lead to 17-9 to open the second quarter, but the 9-0 streak was snapped by an Amaya Williams' three-pointer at the 8:57 mark to make the score 17-12 in favor of the visitors.
- Morgan State would extend its lead to 15, 33-18, at halftime matching its largest advantage of the day. Belle Lanpher led CCSU at the break with seven points, and she was followed by Amaya Williams with five points. Alonna Sellers and Selina Monestime led the Blue Devils on the boards with four rebounds apiece in the first 20 minutes of action. Central struggled from the floor in the first half connecting on just 25.9 percent of its field goal attempts (7-of-27).
- The Blue Devils would chip away and cut the Morgan State lead to nine at 36-27 at the third quarter media timeout with 4:36 remaining in the period.
- Central outscored the visitors, 17-9, in the third quarter to make the score, 42-35, in favor of Morgan State heading into the fourth quarter. Amaya Williams led CCSU with 10 points heading into the final 10 minutes.
- The Blue Devils would pull to within two points, trailing 45-43 with 5:15 to play in the fourth quarter when Selina Monestime hit a free throw to finish off an old fashion three-point play.
- Central tied the game at 45-45 at the 4:36 mark of the fourth on a Belle Lanpher layup.
- CCSU would take its first lead since the 5:33 mark of the first quarter at 46-45 when Alonna Sellers split two free throws with 2:48 to go in the fourth.
- With the game tied at 48-48, Morgan State's Jael Butler hit one free throw with 1:17 to play, and teammate Laila Fair would then hit a turnaround jumper with 21.8 seconds to play to give the visitors a 51-48 lead.
- Nia Green would then hit two free throws with 9.6 remaining to extend the Bears' lead to the final margin of 53-48
- Morgan State closed the game out on a 5-0 run holding CCSU scoreless over the 2:11 of play.
NUMBER TO KNOW
2–Games left in the calendar year of 2024 for the Blue Devils women's basketball team.
NOTES
- Saturday's game marked the first action of the season from preseason All-NEC selection, graduate student, guard, Belle Lanpher, who finished with a game-high 13 points.
- Freshman Selina Monestime notched her first career double-double against Morgan State on Saturday with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
- Senior Amaya Williams finished with 12 points on Saturday, three away from her season-high set at Colgate on November 15th.
- Morgan State won the rebounding battle on Saturday by a 45-39 margin. 17 of the Bears rebounds came on the offensive glass.
- The Blue Devils finished Saturday's game hitting 16-of-53 field goals (30.2%); while the visitors went 17-of-56 from the floor (30.4%).
- The Morgan State bench outscored CCSU, 34-0, on the afternoon.
- Senior Amaya Williams has started all 11 games for CCSU so far this season, and she has gone an impressive 18-of-19 (94.7%) from the foul line through those 11 contests. She was a perfect 6-for-6 on Saturday.
- With her seven rebounds on Saturday, graduate student Meghan Kenefick is now just 13 boards shy of 500 rebounds for her career.
UP NEXT
- After over a week off from game action, Central will return to the court on Monday, December 16 when Dartmouth comes to New Britain for CCSU's final home game of the 2024 calendar year. Game time is set for 11:00 a.m. in Detrick Gymnasium