By Christopher McLaughlin
Despite losing to Rutgers on Sunday, the CCSU women’s basketball team remains on their best start in school history.
The Blue Devils got off to a 5-0 start before Sundays loss to Rutgers. Their previous best start was in 1985-86 when they went 4-0. While Head Coach Beryl Piper is excited by the hot start, she isn’t getting complacent.
“It’s awesome for the program, school, and alumni, but we understand that it’s a long season. We cant be satisfied with what we’ve done. We can be proud, but we still have to work hard,” said Piper.
The strong start has come with some impressive victories over good teams, including the Jen Rizzotti coached Hartford. Although they were overmatched by Rutgers, the Blue Devils have been playing very well this season. They’ve picked up three wins on the road, and got redemption over Maine University, who beat them at the buzzer last season.
During the game, CCSU was sparked by Alexzandria Dowdy, who caught fire late to lead the Blue Devils to victory.
“The Maine game was an obvious revenge game. The kids knew we should have beat them last year,” said Piper. “I’m happy to win at Maine, but not satisfied. We had 28 turnovers, we need to work on better decision making and be more careful.”
After defeating Maine, CCSU won an overtime thriller at Siena. The Blue Devils shooters came alive in OT, and shot lights out to help CCSU come out on top. They matched their first half total in the five minute OT, by scoring 18 points shooting 80 percent from the field.
“Siena was another huge win,” said Piper. “We did make 29 turnovers, but still came out with a victory. Our senior leadership has been really helping, and they found a way to will us to a win. Getting another win on the road says a lot about our character.”
Unfortunately, once the Blue Devils beat Siena, injuries started to set in. Justina Udenze broke her finger, and Jaleen Thomas came down with mono. Despite the injuries, CCSU still pulled out a victory at Holy Cross.
With Udenze out, Kirsten Daamen stepped up, and had a monster game. She scored 17 points and had five rebounds and two blocks. The Blue Devils battled all game, and sent the game into overtime, when Dowdy tied the game with five seconds left.
For the second straight game, CCSU pulled out an overtime victory on the road.
“We still felt good even with players out. We know we have the depth so we remained confident. They came out and hit the first three in OT, but we continued to battle and came out with an unbelievable win.” said Piper.
While CCSU persevered against Holy Cross, they weren’t as fortunate against Rutgers. The loss may have ended the Blue Devils undefeated streak, but they’re still in a good position.
Though Coach Piper believes her team needs to cut down on turnovers, she is pleased with the performance of her players. In addition to the four seniors, the rest of the team is contributing as well.
“Oglesby has been great, she is really athletic and can get boards and get to the basket.” said Piper. “Brooke Bailey is giving us great minutes, she causes mismatches on offense and has improved so much on defense. Daamen is coming of a career high, and Jessica Babe can come in and give Dowdy rest, which is what we need.”
Following the game against Rutgers, the Blue Devils travel to Monmouth, to play another revenge game. Monmouth beat CCSU twice last year, and the Blue Devils are looking to prove themselves.
“Monmouth is definitely another revenge match,” said Piper. “We have to come out ready to play. Our defensive intensity is so much better, we’re really going to make them work.”
With four seniors on the court, and Coach Piper at the helm, losses like the one to Rutgers will be few and far between. The Blue Devils are geared up to return to their winning ways, when they play Monmouth. They will play at home on December 19 to take on New Hampshire after playing on the road for over a month.