Women's Basketball Hosts Dartmouth On Monday Morning

The Central Connecticut State women's basketball team (1-10) will close out a two-game homestand with a special 11:00 a.m. Education Day game this Monday against the Big Green of Dartmouth College.  The Blue Devils, who are back in action for the first time since December 7, will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak on Monday, as CCSU fell to Morgan State, 53-48, in Detrick Gymnasium in their last outing.

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Dartmouth leads the all-time series with Central, 5-1.  The Big Green won the last meeting between the two sides which took place during the 2016-17 season with a 61-51 triumph in Hanover, New Hampshire.  The Blue Devils' lone victory in the series was a tight, 59-55, win in New Britain during the 2015-16 campaign.

A LOOK BACK AT THE MORGAN STATE GAME:

•   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, December 7.  Seeing her first action of the season, graduate student Belle Lanpher led CCSU 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 last Saturday, as she also pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:

•    The Big Green of Dartmouth College are members of the Ivy League and come into play on Monday with a 3-6 overall record following a 75-43 loss at Stonehill last Tuesday evening.  Dartmouth will be looking to stop a three-game losing streak on Monday.  Their wins this season have come versus Keene State, UMass Lowell and Navy.
•    Senior Victoria Page is the team's leading scorer averaging 15.9 points per game.
•    First-year Olivia Austin leads the Big Green on the boards averaging 6.4 rebounds per outing.
•   As a team, Dartmouth is averaging 56.9 points and 36.0 rebounds per contest, and they are allowing the opposition 58.2 points per game plus opponents are pulling down an average of 39.6 rebounds per game.
•   Dartmouth is led by second-year head coach Linda Cimino, who has also served as head coach at St. Francis Brooklyn, Binghamton and Division II Caldwell University.  Last season, the Big Green went 7-19 overall and 1-13 in conference play.

THIS AND THAT:

•    CCSU's number two ranking in the Preseason Northeast Conference Coaches' Poll is the highest ranking in program history.
•    Last Saturday's game versus Morgan State marked the first action of the 2024-25 season for preseason All-NEC selection, graduate student, guard Belle Lanpher, and she finished with a game-high 13 points.
•    Classmate Meghan Kenefick is averaging 10.1 points per contest, and she is tied for second on the squad in rebounding pulling down an average of 5.2 boards per outing.  Meghan enters Monday's game with a career total of 487 rebounds, just 13 shy of 500.
•    Freshman Selina Monestime is next in scoring averaging at 9.1 points per game, and she is also grabbing an average of 5.2 rebounds per game after her first career double of 10 points and 10 rebounds against Morgan State.
•    Junior Alonna Sellers leads CCSU on the boards so far in 2024-25 averaging 6.3 rebounds per game.  Sellers is also averaging 8.0 points per outing. 
•    Six student-athletes have seen action in all 11 of Central's games so far this year with senior Amaya Williams being the only Blue Devils to start every game.  Amaya also is shooting an impressive 94.7 percent from the free throw line so far this year, as she has knocked down 18-of-19 shots from the charity stripe; including hitting her last 11 free throws.
•    As a team, the Blue Devils are averaging 53.2 points per game and allowing the opposition to score an average of 68.7 points per outing.  On the glass, Central is pulling down an average of 33.8 rebounds per game; while the opposition is averaging 41.1 rebounds per contest.

UP NEXT:

•   CCSU closes out the 2024 portion of this season's schedule at Boston College this Friday, December 20 with a 12 noon game in Chestnut Hill.  The Blue Devils return home to open play in 2025 with their first Northeast Conference game of the season when Saint Francis (Pa.) comes to Detrick Gymnasium for a 4:00 p.m. tilt on Thursday, January 2.  The Saint Francis game will be the first of three consecutive NEC home games for Central to begin the New Year.  Dartmouth continues its current four-game road swing at Lafayette this Wednesday evening, December 18.  Tip time is slated for 6:00 p.m.