By Christopher McLaughlin
With monster performances from Justina Udenze and Leanne Crockett, the CCSU Women’s basketball Team picked up a much needed road win, by defeating Bryant 78-70.
Udenze had a career high 29 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Crockett finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils (14-9) to victory. CCSU led by 16, but saw the lead dwindle in the second half. Though Bryant (8-16) cut it close, the veteran leadership of the Blue Devils willed them to a win.
“We got an unbelievable performance from Justina, and Leanne was a monster on the boards,” said Head Coach Beryl Piper. “I’m really proud of how Dowdy played as well, her eight assists were huge. This is the type of game you hope for when you have seniors that understand how to win.”
While the Blue Devils had a well rounded overall performance, the story of the first half was unquestionably Udenze. She scored the first 11 of CCSU’s 13 points, and finished the half with 19 on a perfect 7-7 shooting, as Bryant seemed to have no answer for her.
“She was ready and we did a good job getting her the ball,” said Piper. “They struggled with the rotations and Justina made them pay. She was 10-11 from the field today, she really stepped up big.”
Bryant closed the half with a 10-5 run to cut the lead back to 10. Bryant got hot shooting threes to end the half, and picked up where they left off to start the second half. With threes raining in, it wasn’t long before the lead was trimmed to two.
“They had kids hitting threes that don’t normally make threes,” said Piper. “I told the team we have to contain; we weren’t doing a good job trailing screens and left their players wide open.”
Though the lead was small, the Blue Devils never gave it up. With the presence of Udenze down low, Bryant was forced to send extra help which opened up the perimeter for the rest of the team. With the score close, three pointers by Crockett and Jessica Babe gave the Blue Devils some breathing room.
Bryant was never out of the game, but every time it got close CCSU would knock down another clutch shot. Dowdy had eight in the half, and Crockett had 16 points and four three pointers to help CCSU stay on top. Udenze also chipped in another 10 before fouling out, much to the delight of the Bryant home crowd. With Udenze out of the game, the Blue Devils still managed to hold on to the lead, and left Rhode Island with the victory.
“This was the first time we beat them in their gym,” said Piper. “We host them on Monday in what will be a tough series. It’s not easy to beat a team twice in a row. They’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to have to make adjustments as well. We had keys to this victory, one was out rebounding them, another was having three kids in double digits. If we can do that again then we’re going to win.”
The win was the Blue Devils sixth road victory of the year, and put them over the .500 mark for the NEC. CCSU is down in seventh place in the conference, but only one game out of contention for the NEC Tournament.