(03-01-08)
Box Score
SPARKILL, N.Y. -- Briiana Rende scored 14 points, with 12 coming in the second half, to help the University of New Haven women's basketball team close out its regular season with a 74-67 East Coast Conference win over St. Thomas Aquinas College at Aquinas Hall on Saturday afternoon.
UNH, the top seed for the upcoming ECC Championships, improves to 19-1 in conference play and 19-8 overall. Rende, who was just 3-for-12 from the field, knocked down seven free throws, including four in the final 1:27 to help seal the victory.
Sophomore center Alysia Saunders (photo) had 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the Chargers, who used a balanced attack featuring nine players with at least four points. Lindsay Salt had nine points and seven rebounds, while Natasha Pierre-Louis added eight points.
For STAC (9-18, 8-12 ECC), Takiyah Ingram scored a game-high 28 points, including the 1,000th of her career on a 3-pointer to open the second half. That shot cut the Chargers' lead from 37-28 to 37-31.
Raven Brinkley had 12 points and seven boards for STAC, while Claire Wilson got 10 points off the bench.
Early on in the second half, STAC rode the energy from Ingram's 1,000th-point shot to erase the entire nine-point halftime deficit. Ingram hit a layup and another 3-pointer, sandwiched around a 3 from Kaitlin Page, and STAC was suddenly behind by just two points less than three minutes into the final period.
They would get the margin down to 42-41 a few possessions later on a pair of free throws by Erika Ostrove, and eventually tied the contest at 45 with 14:31 left on a jumper by Brinkley.
But Rende cashed in a tough layup on the next possession and UNH led the rest of the way. That bucket started an 18-5 run over a span of 6 minutes, 12 seconds putting UNH in firm control. Saunders had eight of her 13 points in the sequence as the Chargers made a point of pounding the ball down low.
UNH led by 12 with 1:45 to go before STAC was able to whittle the lead down to the final score of 74-67.
Rende added a game-high seven assists, while Helin Marte and Yasmin Ithier-Vicenty both had six rebounds for UNH.
The top-seeded Chargers will host No. 8 Dowling College in the first round of ECC Championships on Wednesday, March 5 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Charger Gymnasium. The semifinals and championship game of the tournament are being hosted by Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. on March 8-9.
