BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team fell to Central Connecticut State Monday night in the Steinberg Wellness Center, as the Blue Devils led wire to wire, taking the win, 65-57. With the loss, the Blackbirds fall to 8-17 overall and 6-8 in Northeast Conference play.
CCSU opened the game on a run, scoring ten unanswered points in the first four minutes of play. LIU would get on the board with a free throw at 4:27, and continued to chip away at the lead. At the end of the first quarter, two free throws from sophomore
Stylz Sanders cut the gap to 16-10, but the Blue Devils added three more points in the final eight seconds, to lead 19-10.
The second quarter saw the LIU offense start to take shape. Senior
Jolanna Ford hit a three pointer at 8:59 to get the team going, cutting CCSU's lead to five, 19-14. From there, layups by juniors
Brianna Farris and
Shanovia Dove kept the Blackbirds close, 22-18 at 7:23. CCSU answered by scoring six straight points, and widening the lead back up to ten points. In the final three minutes of the half, LIU started to make a run. Sanders had a layup and three free throws to lead the surge, and senior
Shanice Vaughan hit a three from the corner to cut the lead to two, 31-29. With just over a minute left in the half, senior
Ashley Brown had a layup to tie the game, 31-3, but CCSU would drain final three, taking the advantage at the half, 34-31.
Two small runs in the third quarter would give the visiting team the cushion they need. After going up 40-34, CCSU held the Blackbirds at arms length, and the two teams traded baskets for most of the third quarter. CCSU started to pull away for good in the final minute of action, using another 6-0 run to widen the gap to double digits, 54-44 at the end of the third period.
The fourth period saw LIU make two runs at the Blue Devils. Early on, LIU would score six straight points, cutting the lead to 54-50 with a layup from Ford at 5:56. Two minutes later, Brown hit a three, and with 1:26 left in the game, sophomore
DeAngelique Waithe made a layup to bring LIU within two, 59-57. The visitors would hold the Blackbirds off, scoring six points int he final minute of play, including going 4-for-5 from the free throw line to take the win, 65-57.
Sophomore
Stylz Sanders led LIU with 11 points and nine rebounds, while
Shanovia Dove had 10 points and five rebounds. Junior
Brianna Farris had 10 points in the loss, while
Shanice Vaughan added nine points, and
DeAngelique Waithe had nine rebounds and three steals.
Up next, the Blackbirds hit the road to take on the Pennsylvania contingent of the NEC, playing at Saint Francis, Saturday, February 20 at 4 p.m.