MIAMI GARDENS –One game was winnable. One was not. Both resulted in losses for the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team at the Cruzin' Classic, hosted by St. Thomas University at its Fernandez Family Center.
After dropping a 75-36 decision to Ohio Wesleyan University in its opener Sunday in a game that was out of reach after one quarter of play, Eastern (3-8) rebounded less than 24 hours later against Widener University (10-1) and used a strong first half to carry an eight-point lead into the second.
Leading by ten points after the first possession of the second half, Eastern fell victim to two scoring runs by the Pride that lifted Widener to a 61-50 victory and extended Eastern losing streak to four heading into the heart of the Little East Conference season beginning Jan. 3.
Widener's first scoring run was a 10-0 burst that erased Eastern's 32-22 lead in the first minute of the first half and tied the game at 32-all just 2:22 into the second half. Down by five after three quarters, the Warriors used baskets by first-year point guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) and junior guard Kaya Mayo (Middletown) – the latter set up by junior forward Taylor Salato's (East Haven) rebound – to make it a one-point game before the Pride reeled off nine straight points to rebuild their ten-point lead, 54-44, with five minutes left.
After Mayo's basket with 80 seconds into the fourth quarter had pulled Eastern to within 45-44, the Warriors were outscored 16-6 the rest of the way, with an inside hoop from senior guard Cara McGettigan (Southbury) with three minutes left the only field goal over the final 8:40 of the game.
In both of their scoring runs, the Pride got contributions from a variety of players, and finished the game with a 16-3 advantage in bench points.
Clark was 7-of-15 from the floor and led Eastern with 15 points, with Salato adding 11 points and nine rebounds. McGettigan added nine rebounds and four assists, Mayo seven rebounds and first-year guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) nine points.
After turning the ball over 26 times on Sunday, Eastern responded with only 11 against Widener.
At 5-foot-7 inches, graduate guard Jordan D'Ambrosio led Widener with 17 points, eight of them coming on eight free throws. She was only 4-of-12 from the floor but had seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks in playing all 40 minutes. Team scoring and rebounding leader Mia Robbins had 13 points and eight rebounds and chipped in 3-of-3 shooting from the line to help her team to 17-of-19 marksmanship from the stripe. She finished two rebounds shy of her sixth double-double of the season.
Sunday's Result
Ohio Wesleyan U. 75, Eastern Conn. 36
Following an eight-day layoff, the Warriors missed 11 of their 12 shots in the first quarter in trailing by 18 after the first ten minutes and went on to their third straight loss.
In the first meeting between the program, Ohio Wesleyan (6-2) collected 21 steals – the most by an Eastern opponent this year – in forcing a team-high 26 turnovers on the way to the victory.
Salato led Eastern in scoring (12) for the ninth time in ten games and was the leading rebounder or shared the team lead in rebounding for the sixth time, but the other four starters managed a total of only ten points on 3-of-20 shooting from the floor in an average of only 25 minutes.
Thirteen players saw time for Eastern, with first-year senior guard Shania Lewis (Brooklyn, NY) and junior Elayna Comella (Warwick, RI) each logging 13 minutes off the bench and senior Emily Jeamel (Manchester) 12.
A conventional three-point play by Clark gave Eastern its first points two minutes into the game after Ohio Wesleyan had scored the first five, but the Warriors were held scoreless from the floor the rest of the quarter as OWU followed with the next 18 points. Salato's two free throws in the final seconds closed out the quarter.
Salato canned all four of her free throws in the game to improve her season average to 83.3 percent (50-of-60) – eighth-best in the Little East Conference. Mayo, who was scoreless in 21 minutes in a starting role, is fifth in the LEC with an 88.2 free throw percentage (15-of-17).
Upcoming
After playing four straight home games – the final two in the Little East Conference – the Warriors are in the midst of a stretch of six straight road games. Following a 16-day layoff after Widener, Eastern plays three more road games in a seven-day span before returning home Jan. 11 in a conference game against VTSU Castleton. Prior to Castleton, Eastern sandwiches LEC road games against Western Connecticut (Jan. 3) and Keene State College (Jan. 9) around a non-conference meeting at Wheaton College (Jan. 6).
The Wheaton game is the team's last non-conference game in the regular season, which concludes with 12 straight LEC contests prior to the LEC tournament which begins Feb. 20. Last year's LEC regular-season co-champion, Eastern earned the No. 1 tournament seed on tie-breakers before dropping a 61-52 home verdict in the tournament's championship game to regular-season co-champion Rhode Island College, which went on to its first NCAA Final Four.