Blue Devils Top UMass in Overtime

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team held UMass scoreless in overtime and claimed a 58-55 win on the road on Wednesday night.  Junior Kirsten Daamen scored a game-high 20 points, and classmate Jaclyn Babe posted her first double-double in a Central uniform to help move the Blue Devils to 2-0 on the season for the second straight year.

Jaclyn Babe finished the game with 12 points and 10 boards, while Daamen had 20 and five rebounds to pace the offense.  Central forced 27 UMass turnovers and the Minutewomen went scoreless in the extra period.  The Blue Devils had an impressive 16 assists on 23 buckets, and committed just 14 turnovers.

Central trailed 16-10 and hit just five of its first 18 shots from the field before making its move in the first half.  The Blue Devils used a 12-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back threes from freshman Danielle Davis and Jaclyn Babe, that tied the game at 16-16.  

A basket from Daamen pushed the Central run to 8-0 and the Blue Devils had their first lead, 18-16.  Daamen had eight of the first 18 points for the Blue Devils.  Freshman Johnna Fisher scored and two free-throws Jaclyn Babe pushed the run to 12-0 and the Central lead was 22-16.

The Blue Devils led 26-22, but UMass scored 11 straight to lead 33-26 before Central hit a free-throw before the break, making it 33-27 at halftime.  The Blue Devils went without a field goal in the final four minutes and missed their final seven field goal attempts before halftime.

Central forced 11 first half turnovers that led to seven points.  They were 9-of-31 from the field, while the Minutewomen hit 15-of-26 from the floor and outrebounded Central 21-15.

Sophomore Jessica Babe scored the first five points of the second half as Central cut the lead to 33-32.  Another basket underneath from Daamen tied the game at 38.  UMass built a five point lead, but baskets from Fisher and sophomore Lauren Arbogast cut it to 45-44.  

Jaclyn Babe hit her second three of the game and the Blue Devils led 47-45.  The two teams traded a pair of leads, and at the under four minute media timeout it was tied at 51.

Tied at 53, neither team hit a basket for over two minutes, and the Minutewomen had possession with 43 seconds on the clock.  A basket from Carolann Cloutier for UMass was answered by a bucket from Daamen on the other end and the game went to overtime tied at 55.

Daamen scored the only overtime basket, and with 12 seconds left Jessica Babe hit one free-throw to give CCSU a 58-55 lead.   With no time on the clock, Arbogast blocked the potential game-tying shot and Central moved to 2-0.

Daamen led all scorers with 20, and Jaclyn Babe filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 boards, six assists and five steals.  Jessica Babe also added 12 points, five assists and five steals for the Blue Devils in the victory.  She did not have a turnover.