Women's Basketball Opens Homestand Versus LeMoyne

The Central Connecticut State women's basketball team (4-15, 3-3 NEC) will look to get back in the win column and snap a two-game losing skid on Saturday afternoon when Central hosts the LeMoyne College Dolphins (2-16, 2-3 NEC) in a Northeast Conference matchup.  The Blue Devils wrapped a three-game road trip on Thursday evening with an 84-77 loss at Chicago State.  CCSU opened the road trip with a comeback, 62-55, win at Wagner before falling at FDU, 75-58, in the middle game of the trip. The Dolphins come to Connecticut on a two-game winning streak having posted home victories over Chicago State (77-71 in OT) and Stonehill (69-67) in their last two outings.  On Saturday, CCSU will celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day.

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LeMoyne leads the all-time series with CCSU, 2-0, as the two teams met for the first time last season with the Dolphins sweeping the series, posting a 57-44 win in Syracuse on January 19, 2024 and prevailing 69-54 in New Britain on February 15, 2024.

A LOOK BACK AT THE THURSDAY ACTION IN THE WINDY CITY:

• Four Blue Devils reached double-digit scoring on Thursday night, but it was not enough for the Central Connecticut State women's basketball team, as CCSU closed out its three-game road trip with an 84-77 Northeast Conference loss against the host Chicago State University Cougars. With the game tied at 19-19 after the first quarter, the Cougars opened the second period on a 7-0 run to take a 26-19 lead and never trailed for the remainder of the contest.  CCSU graduate student guard Belle Lanpher had another outstanding outing in Chicago, as she led her team with 29 points; falling just one point shy of her third consecutive game with at least 30 points.  Lanpher also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists against the Cougars.  She was joined in double figures by senior Amaya Williams with 14 points, classmate Meghan Kenefick with 11 points and freshman Dagny Slomack with 10 points.  Kenefick finished with a double-double on the night grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.   

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:

•    The LeMoyne College Dolphins come into Saturday's play on a two-game winning streak with a 2-16 overall record and a 2-3 Northeast Conference mark.  LeMoyne has posted home wins over Chicago State (77-71 in OT) and Stonehill (69-67) in their last two contests.
•    LeMoyne, in just its second season as a Northeast Conference member after moving to NCAA Division I from Division II, was predicted to finish third in the conference standings in this year's preseason league coaches' poll.
•    Graduate student Haedyn Roberts leads the team both in scoring and rebounding averaging 10.4 points and 6.3 boards per game.  Junior Sierra Linnin is second on the squad in scoring averaging 9.7 points per game.  Roberts netted a career-high 28 points in the Dolphins win over Chicago State on January 18.
•   As a team, LeMoyne is averaging 50.3 points and 32.2 rebounds per contest, and the Dolphins are allowing the opposition 74.2 points per game plus opponents are pulling down an average of 37.0 rebounds per game.
• LeMoyne is led by first-year head coach Nick DiPillo.  DiPillo came to Syracuse after stints as an assistant coach at Bowling Green and the University of Pittsburgh.  He has previous head coaching experience at the University of Scranton from 2019-22.  Last year, the team went 18-15 overall and 14-2 in its first NEC season, advancing to the conference championship tournament final where the Dolphins fell to Sacred Heart, 69-48.  LeMoyne also played in last season's WNIT, losing at Niagara, 91-86, in the tournament's first round.

THIS AND THAT:

•  CCSU's number two ranking in the Preseason Northeast Conference Coaches' Poll is the highest ranking in program history.
•  Graduate student Belle Lanpher is now averaging 23.0 points per game after her 29-point performance at Chicago State.  She has amassed a total of 1268 career points which puts her only 23 points away from moving into sixth place in CSSU's all-time women's basketball scoring list.  Belle has reached double figures in all nine games she has played this season and a total of 11 straight outings dating back to last season.  She leads the conference in scoring in NEC games only averaging 24.2 points per game.  With her 37 points at Wagner and 31 points at FDU in back-to-back games on January 11 and 18, Lanpher became the first player in the conference to accomplish that feat in nearly six seasons.
•   Freshman Dagny Slomack is second on this season's CCSU scoring list averaging 8.7 points per game, as she has reached double figures in nine games so far in 2024-25 after scoring 10 points at Chicago State.
•  Graduate student Meghan Kenefick is averaging 8.6 points per game, and she has grabbed 5.6 rebounds per outing (7.3 rpg. in NEC play).  Kenefick had her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds at Chicago State on Thursday night.
•   Thursday's 77 points are the most points scored in a road game this season by the Blue Devils.
•   As a team, the Blue Devils are averaging 57.4 points per game and allowing the opposition to score an average of 68.1 points per outing.  On the glass, Central is pulling down an average of 35.6 rebounds per game; while the opposition is averaging 38.7 rebounds per contest.  Central has outrebounded its opponents in five straight games.
•   In the NEC games only, CCSU leads the conference in rebounding average (36.8) and offensive rebounds per game at 13.5.  They are also second in free throw percentage as a team in conference action at 77.9 percent.

UP NEXT:

•   The Blue Devils continue their three-game homestand next Saturday, February 1, when the Stonehill College Skyhawks come to Detrick Gymnasium for a 1:00 p.m. NEC tilt.  LeMoyne will begin a string of three straight home games next Saturday when the Dolphins host Wagner at 12 noon.