Women's Hoops Venture To FDU For A Saturday NEC Matchup

The Central Connecticut State women's basketball team (4-13, 3-1 NEC) plays the middle game of a three-game Northeast Conference road trip on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. when CCSU heads to the Garden State of New Jersey to take on the FDU Knights (13-3, 3-0 NEC).  The Blue Devils will be looking to run their winning streak to four after posting a comeback, 62-55, win at Wagner last Saturday in the Blue Devils' first conference road game of the season.  The Knights are currently on a six-game winning streak after a 77-63 victory at Mercyhurst in the team's last action.  Saturday's game will be televised live on the YES Network; along with being streamed on NEC Front Row.

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FDU has won the last seven meetings between the two teams, and that streak gives the Knights an 18-17 advantage in the all-time series. Last season, FDU won at home in overtime, 80-75, on January 25, 2024, and the Knights posted a 70-56 victory in New Britain on March 7, 2024.  CCSU's last win in the series was a 77-56 triumph in Connecticut on December 20, 2020.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SATURDAY'S WIN AT WAGNER:

• Trailing by 10 points, 49-39, with 2:21 to play in the third quarter, the Central Connecticut State University women's basketball team went on a 23-6 run to close out the game to post their first road win of the season, a 62-55 Northeast Conference victory over the host Wagner College Seahawks last Saturday afternoon.  CCSU graduate student guard Belle Lanpher helped lead her team to the win, as she scored a career-high 37 points, 24 of which came in the second half.  Lanpher was joined in double figures by Amaya Williams who finished with 14 points.  Dagny Slomack finished just shy of double digits for the winners with nine points.  Meghan Kenefick grabbed a game and season-high 14 rebounds for the winners, and she also dished of a season-best six assists.   

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:

•    The FDU Knights come into Saturday's contest  on a six-game winning streak with a 13-3 overall record and a perfect 3-0 Northeast Conference mark with conference wins over Wagner, Saint Francis and Mercyhurst.  The Knights are an unblemished 7-0 so far during the 2024-25 season on their home court at the Bogota Savings Bank Center.
•    FDU was slotted in first place in this year's preseason NEC Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll.
•    Graduate student Teneisia Brown leads the team in scoring so far this season averaging 14.1 points per game.  She is joined in double-digit scoring by freshman Ava Renninger at 13.1 ppg. and classmate Abaigael Babore at 10.5 points per outing.  Brown also leads FDU on the boards pulling down an average of 8.8 rebounds per game.
•   As a team, the Knights are averaging 66.3 points and 37.7 rebounds per contest, and they are allowing the opposition 59.9 points per game plus opponents are pulling down an average of 33.9 rebounds per game.
•   FDU is led by veteran head coach Stephanie Gaitley, who is in her second season as the Knights' bench boss.  Gaitley entered this year as the 12th winningest active coach in Davison I women's basketball with 684 victories.  Last year, the team went 15-17 overall and 11-5 in Northeast Conference play.   FDU fell to LeMoyne in last season's NEC Championship Tournament semifinal.

THIS AND THAT:

•  CCSU's number two ranking in the Preseason Northeast Conference Coaches' Poll is the highest ranking in program history.
•  Graduate student Belle Lanpher  earned her second  NEC/Atlantic Tomorrow's Office Women's Basketball Player of the Week nod this season on Monday for her outstanding play that took place in games from January 6-12, 2025. Belle helped the Blue Devils to a perfect 2-0 week by averaging an impressive double-double of 31.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in a home win over LIU and a comeback road triumph against Wagner. She opened the week on Thursday at home with her second career double-double in a 52-48 victory over LIU in which she netted 25 points and tied her career-high with 11 rebounds.  Lanpher followed that up with a career-high 37-point performance in Saturday's 62-55 comeback road win over Wagner.  She also pulled downed nine boards on Staten Island.  Those 37 points are the 18th most scored by an NCAA Division 1 player so far this season, and they are the most points scored by an NEC player against a Division 1 opponent this year.  For the week, Belle hit 20-of-38 field goals (52.6%), and she went 17-of-18 from the foul line (94.5%). Her outstanding play last week also gives her a career total of 1208 points; which puts her just 26 points away from moving into eighth place on CCSU's all-time scoring list.  So far this season, Lanpher is averaging 21.0 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per outing.  She has reached double-digit in all seven games she has played after returning from injury and is shooting an impressive 37-of-40 (92.5%) from the foul line.
•  Classmate Meghan Kenefick, who played all 40 minutes in both games last week, is averaging 8.9 points, and she has grabbed 5.4 rebounds per outing (7.3 rpg. in NEC play).  Kenefick pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds in the win at Wagner last Saturday
•   Freshman Dagny Slomack is second on this season's CCSU scoring list averaging 9.0 points per game
•   Fellow freshman Selina Monestime is averaging at 8.0 points per game, and she is third on the Blue Devils in rebounding grabbing and average of 5.1 per game
•   As a team, the Blue Devils are averaging 56.2 points per game and allowing the opposition to score an average of 66.7 points per outing.  On the glass, Central is pulling down an average of 35.0 rebounds per game; while the opposition is averaging 39.5 rebounds per contest.

UP NEXT:

•   The Blue Devils wrap up their three-game conference road trip on Thursday, January 23 in the Windy City with a trip to conference newcomer Chicago State.  Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  FDU hosts Chicago State, this Monday, MLK Day at 2:00 p.m.