By Nicholas Proch
Sophomore Lauren Arbogast played the role of hero this weekend against Farleigh Dickinson when she hit the game winning shot with 1.2 seconds left as CCSU won 51-49.
The Blue Devils (10-11, 4-6 NEC) were able to control the game in the first half. They went into the break with a 29-19 lead over the Knights.
However, during the second half, FDU trimmed into the lead. With 14:08 left in the game, the Knights had gotten the score within one point, at 31-30. The visitors appeared more physical coming out of the break and were able to disrupt the Blue Devil offense.
“Late in the game they were taking Kaley [Watras] away and not allowing her to catch the ball,” said CCSU Head Coach Beryl Piper. “We were not able to get into our offense as easy and for the kids’ sake we handled that pretty well. They’re a really athletic team and they rely on the steal.”
The Blue Devils only briefly relinquished the lead and that was, in part, due to their presence under the basket. They had a total of 50 rebounds in the game, half of which were on the offensive end of the court. Six players had more than five rebounds for CCSU.
With some stingy defense in the final three minutes, the Knights were able to go from down six to a tie game with 27-seconds left.
The game came down a final possession for the Blue Devils. They took a timeout with 22-seconds left to talk about the play that they would run to hopefully force a win. They did so thanks to a deep 2-point jump shot at the top of the arc by Arbogast. She finished with eight points and seven rebounds, but none were more important for the team than her final shot.
“That’s huge for us,” said Piper. “As a coach, for me to know that my players can make the plays when they need to make the plays, that’s when you’re a good team. Your best shooter is not always going to get the ball and someone else is going to need to step up and do something with it.”
The team is playing stronger as a whole on both ends of the court. They had nine blocks and six steals to go along with their 50 rebounds. With Jessica Babe out of the lineup due to injury and her sister Jaclyn Babe not having her best night, with 13 points on 6-for-18 shooting, it was up to the other starters to make the play when the time came.
“I’m glad I hit the shot, but I would have trusted any of my other teammates to make the shot too,” said Arbogast.
“That’s what the team is about,” said Piper. “Your opportunities are going to come. You might not play a lot and then all of a sudden we’re going to be relying on you to make big plays and do big things and that’s why practice is so important and that the kids work as hard as they do.”
During the game, junior center Kirsten Daamen set the CCSU women’s basketball career record for blocks. She entered with 114 and added five on Saturday. She will now continue to set the record with each block she gets. Daamen is the NEC leader in blocks this season. She also added eight points and seven rebounds.
However, despite the win the Blue Devils head to Long Island University and St. Francis (NY) at the end of this week with a loss on their minds. On Monday night CCSU fell to Monmouth by three, dropping the game 59-56.
