Women's Basketball Wins 63-54

Sophomore Jessica Babe's near triple-double and a season-high 24 points from junior Jaclyn Babe led the Blue Devils to a 63-54 victory over Holy Cross on Wednesday night.  Central led 25-23 at the half, before scoring 38 second half points to earn the victory and move to 4-1 on the season.

The Blue Devils surrendered a pair of quick baskets to the Crusaders to start the second half.  Trailing 27-25 with 18:20 left to play, Jaclyn Babe sparked the Blue Devils.  She scored 13 points over a two minute stretch. Her 13 point run was helped by her team's strong defensive play, as Holy Cross scored only two points over the same span.

Helping fuel Jaclyn's run was her sister. Jessica Babe contributed two of her game-high nine assists during her sister's 13 point stretch.  Jessica Babe finished a single assist shy of the first triple-double in program history.  She finished the game with 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

The early second half run gave the Blue Devils the lead for good.  Holy Cross continued to chip away at the Blue Devil lead, but Central had an answer for every Crusader basket.

During the first half junior Kirsten Daamen dominated play, she scored 10 points on five-of-eight shooting.  While grabbing four rebounds and blocking three shots in the period.  She continued her strong play in the second half and finished the game with 14 points, eight rebounds, and five blocks.

As a team the Blue Devils out rebounded the Crusaders 44-32.  Jessica Babe posted a game-high with her 12 rebounds, Daamen followed with eight and sophomore Lauren Arbogast grabbed seven boards.  All nine Blue Devils who played in the game grabbed a rebound.

Offensively, the Blue Devils posted their second straight game with a shooting percentage above 50%.  The Blue Devils went 26-of-50 from the field for a 52.0%, led by Jaclyn Babe who hit nine-of-13 shots, including four-of-five three pointers.

Central also dominated in the paint for the second straight game.  The Blue Devils out scored Holy Cross 30-16 under the basket.

Jessica Babe finished with impressive numbers of 13 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocks in a game high 38 minutes on the floor.  She missed the program's first triple-double by a single assist.  It was the closest a Blue Devil had come to a triple-double since Kerrianne Dugan fell a rebound short in a 19 point, 11 assist and nine rebound performance on January 30, 2010.

The victory was the 400th in Central Connecticut women's basketball history. The Blue Devils first played women's basketball during the 1971-72 season.

The Blue Devils finish the month of November with a 4-1 record, and are 8-1 in the opening month over the last two seasons.  Central also improved to 13-2 in Detrick Gym over the last two seasons. 

Tonight's game was played in front of 1,746 fans as the Blue Devils hosted their 'Pack the House' night.

The Blue Devils will remian home this Saturday to open Northeast Conference play with intrastate rival Sacred Heart.  That game will tip-off at 1 p.m. on Saturday.