Saturday was Senior Day for the Central Connecticut State women’s basketball team, and the team’s three seniors—guards Belle Lanpher and Amaya Williams, and forward Meghan Kenefick— all showed out in their last-ever regular season home game against the Wagner Seahawks. The trio combined for 39 points, helping the Blue Devils earn a 76-65 win that clinched a Northeast Conference Tournament home game—the team’s first since 2015. 

Interim Head Coach Kristin Caruso spoke on the importance of the win on the team’s chances going into the conference tournament. 

“[I’m] super proud of my whole team,” Caruso said. “We came together and got it done today, and that’s what we needed to do. We’re going to have a home game now [in the NEC Tournament] … We could possibly have two home games. We just got to get our job done and then we can look forward to the tournament.”

Lanpher, who has been with the program for the past five years, was honored prior to the start of the game alongside Williams and Kenefick. She said she was happy to be recognized, but that her focus was solely on securing home court advantage in the upcoming tournament.

“It’s nice to be celebrated after being here for so long,” Lanpher said, “but we were just locked in on wanting to win, to get the home game in the playoffs because we don’t want to go somewhere else. We want to play on our home floor. This is where we have the energy. This is where we have the fans, so it was just really important for us to do that.”

Kenefick, who has been with the Blue Devils for the last four years, agreed with Lanpher, adding that winning on Senior Day was “bittersweet.” 

“[We’re a] more competitive group, the entire team, but the seniors especially,” Kenefick said. “It’s Senior Day. That’s great, but we just wanted to go out there and get a win, and we knew how important this game was for the standings.”

Caruso spoke on her senior players, praising their leadership and contributions to the team.

“I couldn’t ask for better seniors,” Caruso said. “They’ve stepped up and they’ve led us the whole way, and I couldn’t be more happy for them. All three stepped up tonight.” 

Central had five players score in double figures during the game. Lanpher led the way, scoring 17 points and dishing out six assists, followed by freshman guard Dagny Slomack with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Kenefick had 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Lucia Noin had a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Closing it out was Williams with 10 points and four assists. 

The first half of the game was closely contested with both sides trading the lead five times and neither able to build a lead larger than seven. A 3-point shot by Noin gave the Blue Devils a 24-17 lead early in the second quarter before the Seahawks embarked on a 13-0 run that put them up 30-24 with 4:24 left in the half. Over the final four minutes, Central went on a 3-point barrage, going 4 of 4 from deep, the last of which was a buzzer-beating shot by Kenefick that gave the Blue Devils a 40-39 lead going into halftime. 

With 2:37 left to play in the half, Central was down seven, forcing Caruso to call a timeout and regroup her troops. Following the break, the Blue Devils went on an 11-3 run, retaking the lead and irrevocably shifting the momentum of the game. She said she told her players to “Relax” during the timeout.

“I think [Wagner] were big, and a lot of teams are bigger than us, which hurts us a little bit defending them,” Caruso said. “But they couldn’t guard us, and we knew they couldn’t guard us. We just had to relax and take better shots and make better cuts … They know this is March Madness. It’s time to play.”

The third quarter began with five lead changes in just the first three minutes. The Seahawks managed to take a five-point lead over the Blue Devils at the 6:20 mark before Central went on a 15-2 run to close out the period, taking a 59-51 lead into the final 10 minutes. 

From there, the match was never close again. The Seahawks collapsed in the fourth quarter, and the Blue Devils took the largest lead of the game, going up 18 at 76-58 with 2:38 left. With the game settled, Lanpher, Williams and Kenefick headed to the bench for the last time at home in the regular season of their college careers. The contest ended with a final score of 76-65. 

With the victory, the Blue Devils improved their record in conference play to 9-6 and 10-18 overall. Caruso, who took over as interim head coach of the women’s basketball team three games into conference play, replacing Way Veney, has led the team to an 8-5 record, with Central winning four of its last five games. With the team’s recent success, some have speculated that Caruso could be named the permanent head coach, despite the university not making an official announcement regarding Veney’s departure. 

When asked about the possibility, Caruso downplayed the speculation. 

“No. I’m taking it one day at a time, one game at a time, one quarter at a time,” Caruso said. “All I’m concentrated on is our kids and finishing out as best as we can.” 

The Blue Devils will hit the road for their final game before the NEC Championship, traveling south to take on the Long Island University Sharks on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. Central’s seed for the tournament is yet to be determined, and the Blue Devils can still finish in second, third or fourth place based on the final results around the league.