Women's Basketball Downs New Haven; Noin and Lewis Each Score Over 20

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team closed the season with a 60-50 win over New Haven on Thursday night in NEC action. The Blue Devils held the Chargers to 28.6 percent shooting and outscored them in every quarter.

Lucia Noin led CCSU with 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Kiyah Lewis posted 23 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Cierra Pearson chipped in a game-high 11 rebounds with six assists and three steals.

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE
Score: CCSU 60, NHVN 50
Records: CCSU (2-27, 2-16 NEC), New Haven (7-22, 5-13 NEC)
Location:  Detrick Gymnasium | New Britain, CT

KEY MOMENTS 

• CCSU raced out to a quick six-point lead after an 8-0 run. Lucia Noin opened the scoring before Kiyah Lewis scored six straight and would make it 8-2 at the 7:16 mark. The Chargers would respond with seven straight points to take a momentary 9-8 lead after five straight points by Lindsay Hogan. Central responded with a three-pointer by Christa Ramos to regain the lead, which sparked a spurt of seven unanswered points and push the lead to 15-9.
• New Haven closed the opening quarter with five straight points, but went almost four minutes without a field goal. Following a trio of foul shots to open the spurt, Merit Innocent made a layup with 47 seconds left to make it 15-14 at the end of the period.
• After CCSU scored four quick points to open the second quarter, New Haven scored nine straight points to take the lead. Hogan opened the run with a three-pointer and after two foul shots by Aniya McDonald-Perry tied the game, Innocent made a layup to make it 21-19 with 7:53 to go before halftime.
• Lewis would end the run with a three-point play with 5:56 in the period before three straight foul shots would pull CCSU within a point at 26-25 before she made a jump shot with 3:04 to go before halftime to spark an 11-0 run. Central would hold the Chargers scoreless for the final 5:32 and layups by Lewis and Noin would push the lead to 31-26 before another layup in transition by Noin would make it 33-26 at halftime.
• Six straight points by Central would push the lead to double-figures early in the third quarter. Noin would convert back-to-back baskets before a layup by Lewis made it 39-29 at the 7:10 mark. New Haven would trim the deficit to four points, but a three-pointer by Noin and a layup by Lewis would push the margin to nine points, which is where the CCSU lead was after the third period, 48-39.
• The Blue Devils would extend the lead midway through the fourth period with seven straight points. Noin hit a jumper followed by a putback by Nicora Patrick before Lewis hit a three-pointer to make it 60-46 with 4:02 remaining. The Chargers would end a four-minute scoring drought with a foul shot with 2:20 to play, but they went almost five minutes with a field goal until a Jasmine McKay layup made it 60-50 with 1:12 left to close out the scoring.

NUMBER TO KNOW 

44 - Central grabbed 44 rebounds, its most against an NEC foe this season.

NOTES 

• Noin topped 24 points for the fifth game this season.
• Lewis scored at least 20 points in four straight games to close the season.
• Pearson matched a personal-best with six assists in the game.
• Mathilda Toure grabbed six rebounds off the bench.
• Nicora Patrick had six points on 3-of-5 shooting.

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