February 6, 2010

Box Score

CCSU STOPS BRYANT STREAK, DEFEAT THE BULLDOGS 73-59 TO CLOSE OUT RIVALRY WEEK

NEW BRITAIN, CONN. - After defeating Central Connecticut State on Thursday night at home, the Bryant University women's basketball team was defeated 73-59 by the Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon in New Britain, Conn. The CCSU win snaps the Bulldogs' three-game winning-streak.

Bryant (10-13, 7-5 NEC) was led by senior Jaime Campbell's (Springfield, Mass.) 14 points. Campbell was 4-8 from the floor and 6-8 from the free throw line. Senior captain Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) and freshman Danielle Douglas (Silver Springs, Md.) each had 12-points for Bryant.

Central Connecticut improved to 9-13 overall and evened its conference record at 6-6 with the win. The Blue Devils were led offensively by captain Kerrianne Dugan. Dugan scored a game-high 23 points. Forward Justina Udenze added 18 for the Devils while Leanne Crockett pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Blue Devils outshot the Bulldogs 46.9 percent to 33.9 percent in the contest. Bryant, usually a good 3-point shooting team, struggled from beyond the arc going 4-17. CCSU attempted 38 free throws in the contest and outrebounded the Black and Gold 46-32.

After 20 minutes of play at the Detrick Gymnasium, the Bulldogs found themselves down 2 points, 33-31, to the Central Connecticut Blue Devils. Dugan was the leading scorer in the first half, scoring 13 points. The Bulldogs had seven players score in the half with O'Keefe's seven points leading the way. Douglas scored six points and recorded two steals in the period.

With five quick points from O'Keefe the Bulldogs jumped out to an early 9-4 lead just four minutes into the game. Over the next six minutes Central Connecticut came rallying back as Dugan led the charge to take a 21-16 lead with 9:43 remaining in the first half.

With the action slowing down a bit over the last 10 minutes of the half the Bulldogs were able to knot things up at 31 apiece with a Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount Laurel, N.J.) 3-point bucket with 1:55 remaining on the clock. Central's Kirsten Daamen hit the last bucket of the half, a layup with 19 seconds left, to bring the halftime score to 33-31.

The Blue Devils built up a four-point lead just minutes into the second half but couldn't hold it long as the Bulldogs tied things up once again at 35 with a Douglas breakaway layup with 17:20 remaining.

On a great give-and-go play between classmates Meredith Soper (Winthrop, Mass.) and Douglas the Bulldogs retook the lead, 41-39, with 14:39 remaining in the game. Douglas passed the ball out on the wing to Soper who sent a great pass behind the back of a Devils' defender for Douglas to convert the easy layup.

The two squads changed leads again at the 12:30 mark of the second half as CCSU's Emily Rose nailed her second 3-pointer of the night to give her team the 42-41 lead.

Over the next five minutes the Blue and White outscored the Black and Gold 10-3 to take a, 52-44 lead, with 7:44 left on the clock.

With both teams in the double-bonus, the Blue Devils made 13-18 free throw attempts over the final eight minutes of the game. CCSU kept up the pace as they used a 10-6 run to take a 12-point, 62-50 lead with 3:46 remaining.

The Devils kept up the good free throw percentage over the last four minutes and stretched their lead to 16 with 2:28 left on the clock, enough to put the Bulldogs away as they pulled off the 73-59 victory over Bryant.

The Bulldogs will return home to host Saint Francis (PA) on Thursday, February 11 at 5 p.m. in the Chace Athletic Center. The Red Flash leads the series 1-0, with the first meeting resulting in an 80-75 victory for SFPA. That game will be broadcast live on www.northeastconference.tv.