(02-02-08)
Box Score
WEST HAVEN, Conn. -- Junior Briiana Rende (photo) led all scorers with 17 points and the Charger bench outscored their counterparts by a 28-1 margin as the University of New Haven women's basketball team remained unbeaten in East Coast Conference play at 13-0 with a 62-41 win over University of Bridgeport on Saturday. The game was played in front of 810 fans as CSTV broadcast the game live to the nation and the NCAA internet-streamed the game to the entire world from Charger Gymnasium.
Two days after scoring a career-high 23 points, Rende again was the points leader UNH as the Chargers improve to 13-7 overall and 13-0 in the ECC. She knocked down all three of her 3-point field goal attempts, including a pair in the first half as UNH led 33-20 at the intermission and led wire-to-wire.
Lauren Hood logged 14 points and four rebounds for the Chargers, while Lindsay Salt had 12 points, five rebounds. Dominique Stellmacher was one bucket off a double-double, with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Even though Helin Marte did not make it on the scoresheet, she ran the offense and dished out a career-high 10 assists.
Bridgeport (10-10, 7-6 ECC) was led by Sidney Parsons, who had 14 points and six rebounds in 36 minutes. Shannon Malone scored 11 for Bridgeport, which also got seven points from Monique Ross. UB shot just 27.3 percent from the field for the game, and made just 2 of 11 three-point attempts (18.2 percent).
Both teams were visibly nervous thanks to the television crews and packed house, but UNH jumped out to an early 11-point lead to take control. The Chargers opened up an 18-7 lead less than seven minutes in, thanks to five points from Rende and four apiece from Stellmacher and Hood. UB started the contest cold (2 for 12) to help UNH get the season-best crowd into the game.
Bridgeport would get to within nine, at 29-20 with 4:20 remaining in the opening period, but did not score again in the half as they missed their final four shots and turned the ball over twice. Salt, meanwhile, closed out the period on fire by scoring UNH's final six points for the 33-20 halftime lead.
UNH continued to press the tempo in the second half, pulling ahead by 17 after Rende canned her final 3-pointer at the 16:32 mark. But four UB players combined for a seven-point run to get the margin back down to 10 (40-30).
However, UNH answered with a 7-0 run of their own, with Stellmacher sandwiching a pair of baskets around a Salt 3-pointer to essentially put the game in the bag with 11:42 left. The Chargers would never lead by less than 14 the rest of the way. Malone got a second-chance layup to go down with 3:45 remaining to cut the lead to 55-41, but it was too little, too late for the Purple Knights.
Stellmacher, Salt, Yasmin Ithier-Vicenty (6 points) and Nicole Pollard (2) came off the bench to give the Chargers a 28-1 advantage in bench scoring, as their depth helped to wear down UB.
The Chargers continue their quest for perfection in the ECC next Wednesday when they travel to Flushing, N.Y., for a showdown with ECC tournament hosts Queens College.
