By Kenny Barto
The CCSU Women’s Basketball team had an impressive showing against New Hampshire, defeating them 83-44 on Sunday afternoon.
“When we played Hartford the other day we struggled executing offense because we couldn’t get into our initial offense after the first pass,” said Head Coach Beryl Piper. “Tonight, we were able to execute our offense because we were playing better defense and getting easy looks.”
Junior transfer Jaclyn Babe led the Blue Devils (3-1, 0-0 NEC) with 22 points. The Wildcats (2-2, 0-0 America East) had only one player in double figures and turned the ball over 20 times. Jessica Babe had just four points but had seven rebounds, nine assists and five steals.
“Jessica had a really good game today,” Piper said. “To put up numbers like that as a guard, it’s just a huge help to our team.”
The game was tied at 18 with 7:58 to go in the first half. It seemed like the game would be back and forth all day. However, the Blue Devils mustered a 24-4 run to close out the half leading 42-22. Jaclyn Babe scored 13 of her 22 in the first half, and missed just one of her five shots from the field. Kirsten Daamen, CCSU’s leading scorer of the season, scored 10 of her 18 in the first half.
The Wildcats didn’t have much luck against CCSU in the second half as the blowout continued. They shot seven of 29 from the field and did not hit one three pointer.
The Blue Devils’ defense forced twenty turnovers, 12 of them being steals. The Babe sisters combined for seven of those steals.
“That was one of the main focuses in practice,” said Jaclyn Babe. “Doing what the coaches asked, trailing all ball screens, getting in the gaps and the passing lanes.”
Daamen currently leads the Blue Devils with 60 points, and Jaclyn Babe is a close second with 55. Babe, who had to sit out her sophomore year after transferring from Duquesne, has also played 140 minutes, the most on the team.
“I think it’s taken me a few games to get back into it,” she said. “But, I think I’m in a good place now and it feels good to be out there and playing again.”
CCSU also showed how deep their bench goes. The Blue Devils played 11 of their 12 players, Amanda Harrington being the only exception. This allowed there to be fresh legs on the court at all times, as well as to give Coach Piper an idea of how she will handle games in the future.
“I’m starting to get an idea about substitutions,” said Piper. “Today was Brooke’s first game back, and we missed Jessica for one game. But, as a whole everything is starting to fit together.”
The Blue Devils will return home on Wednesday for the “Pack the House” challenge, an NCAA program that is aimed at boosting attendance at division 1 women’s college basketball games. CCSU will be defending their Northeast Conference title, when they drew 1,800 fans to last year’s season opener against Hartford. They will open their NEC schedule on Saturday against Sacred Heart.
