Blue Devils Look To Continue Their Winning Ways At LeMoyne On Thursday

The Central Connecticut State women's basketball team (9-17, 8-5 NEC) wraps up a two-game road trip with the squad's penultimate contest away from home on Thursday evening when the Blue Devils head to Syracuse, New York to take on the LeMoyne College Dolphins.  On Saturday, CCSU posted one of its most impressive victories of the season when Central defeated Stonehill, 84-68, to open the road trip and extend the team's winning streak to three games.  The Dolphins (5-21, 5-8 NEC) head into Thursday's action off an 83-53 home win over LIU on Saturday.  CCSU needs one win in its last three regular season games to clinch at least one home game in this year's Northeast Conference Championship Tournament.

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With their win in New Britain earlier this season, the Blue Devils now trail the all-time series with LeMoyne, 2-1.

A LOOK BACK AT SATURDAY'S ROAD VICTORY OVER STONEHILL:

•  With the game tied at 20-20 after the first quarter, the Central Connecticut State University women's basketball team opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run over the first 4:11 of the stanza, and never looked backed, on their way to an impressive 84-68 road victory over the host Stonehill College Skyhawks on Saturday afternoon.  Graduate student Belle Lanpher led CCSU with a game-high 35 points, just two off her career high.  She was joined in double-digit scoring by a pair of teammates, freshman Dagny Slomack with 17 points and classmate Meghan Kenefick netted 13 points.  Lanpher also added four rebounds, plus three assists and three steals for the winners.  Senior Amaya Williams finished Saturday's game just one point shy of giving the winners a quartet of double-digit scorers as she had nine points on the afternoon.  Freshman Selina Monestime led Central in rebounding with eight boards

THIS YEAR'S FIRST MEETING BETWEEN THE BLUE DEVILS AND DOLPHINS (1/25/25):

• The Blue Devils never trailed in the game, as they posted a 67-50 home NEC victory over the visiting LeMoyne College Dolphins on late January.  For the second straight outing, four Blue Devils reached double-digit scoring led by graduate student Belle Lanpher who finished with a game-high 20 points.  She was joined in double figures by senior Amaya Williams with 13 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter, and freshman Dagny Slomack plus graduate student Meghan Kenefick each had 12 points for the winners.  Kenefick and Kayla Henry led Central in rebounding on Saturday, as they each grabbed six boards.  Haedyn Roberts led three LeMoyne players in double figures with 16 points, and she finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITON:

•    The LeMoyne College Dolphins come into Thursday's game with 5-21 overall record and 5-8 conference mark.  LeMoyne snapped a three-game losing skid with an 83-53 home win over LIU on Saturday.
•    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 11.1 points and 6.3 boards per game.  Junior Sierra Linnin is second on the squad in scoring averaging 10.7 points per game.  Roberts also leads the team in rebounding averaging 6.5 boards per outing.
•   As a team, LeMoyne is averaging 53.2 points and 32.2 rebounds per contest, and the Dolphins are allowing the opposition 70.5 points per game plus opponents are pulling down an average of 36.6 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. 

 THIS AND THAT:

•   CCSU's number two ranking in the Preseason Northeast Conference Coaches' Poll is the highest ranking in program history.
•   Central's offense was on full display in Saturday's win over Stonehill, as the team scored a season-high 84 points and dished off a season-best 21 assists.
•  With her 35 points at Stonehill, Belle Lanpher has now scored a total of 1426 career points, which moves into the third place on CCSU's all-time scoring list.   Belle has reached double figures in all 16 games she has played this season and a total of 19 straight outings.  In 2024-25, she has eclipsed the 30-point mark in three outings.  So far this season, Lanpher is averaging 22.8 points per game.  On Saturday, she hit 11-of-19 field goals, including knocking down 6-of-8 from behind the three-point arc.  Lanpher also went 7-of-8 from the foul line.  For her outstanding play last week, Belle earned NEC Tomorrow's Office Women's Basketball Player of the Week accolades for the fourth time this season.
•   CCSU's Top Four All-Time Women's Basketball Career Scorers: 1-Hope Linthicum (1982-87), 1,773 points, 2-Gabriella Guegbelet (2003-07), 1,700 points, 3-Belle Lanpher (2020-present), 1,426 points, 4-Kiana Patterson (2015-19), 1,410 points
 •  Graduate student Meghan Kenefick, who netted 13 points in both CCSU wins last week, is second on the Blue Devils in scoring averaging 8.9 points per game, and she has grabbed 5.5 rebounds per outing (6.2 rpg. in NEC play).  Kenefick has now pulled down a total of 572 rebounds for her career.  Kenefick earned a spot on the NEC's Prime Performer's list this week.
•   Freshman Dagny Slomack is third on this season's CCSU scoring list averaging 8.2 points per game.  
•   As a team, the Blue Devils are averaging 60.4 points per game (66.9 ppg. in NEC play) and allowing the opposition to score an average of 66.7 points per outing (64.2 in conference play).  On the glass, Central is pulling down an average of 35.7 rebounds per game; while the opposition is averaging 37.8 rebounds per contest.  Central has outrebounded its opponents in nine of its last 12 games.

UP NEXT:

•   The Blue Devils return home for their last regular season home game on Saturday, March 1, when CCSU hosts Wagner College in a Senior Day matchup.  Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. LeMoyne will travel to Stonehill on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. clash with the Skyhawks.