Bulldogs fall at Central, 70-59, Saturday afternoon

NEW BRITAIN, CONN. – The Bryant University women's basketball team fell to Central Connecticut, 70-59, Saturday afternoon at Detrick Gymnasium.

The Blue Devils (8-8, 4-1 Northeast Conference) handed the Bulldogs (11-5, 4-1 NEC) their first loss of league play, snapping a five-game winning streak in the process.

Freshman guard Ivory Bailey (Wyomissing, Pa.) and junior guard Tiersa Winder (Baltimore, Md.) led Bryant in the scorebook with 15 points apiece while Bailey tied a career-high with eight boards. Junior forward Breanna Rucker (Cincinnati, Ohio) chipped in 14 points and eight boards, while senior guard Melissa Corraro (Shelton, Conn.) dished out five assists to go along with three points off the bench.

Camden Musgrave paced all scorers with a game-high 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep. Tejahne Malone added 13 points and 10 boards and Kayla Miller and Amanda Harrington put up 10 apiece.

Despite turning the ball over a season-low 11 times, the Bulldogs got outworked on the glass for the just the second time this season, 39-34. The Central bench also came up big, outscoring the Bulldog reserves by 22 points, 29-7.

Early on it seemed the Bulldogs were feeling the effects of the four-day layover between games as a sluggish start spotted the Blue Devils an 18-7 lead less than nine minutes into the contest. Bryant eventually began to find its footing on the offensive end, cutting the margin to just seven, 21-14, but the hosts managed to build their lead back to double digits through the five-minute mark.

 The Black and Gold fought back in the final minutes of the period, overcoming just 28 percent shooting from the field, to shrink the margin to just four points, 31-27, at the half.

Back-to-back 3'sout of the locker room from Winder and Ivory Bailey granted Bryant its first lead of the afternoon, 35-33, at the 17:50 mark of the second half but a 6-0 Central run pushed the hosts back out front, 39-35, at the under-16 media timeout.

The lead continued to change hands through the 13-minute mark but four-straight points from Rucker granted the Black and Gold a 44-41 edge with just under 12 minutes to play. However, the lead was short lived as three-straight 3s, including two from Kaley Watras, catapulted the Blue Devils back into the drives seat, 50-44, halfway through the second frame.

Central maintained it's slim, but steady advantage through the six-minute mark but a 7-0 Bryant run shrunk the margin to just a point, 54-53, with 5:28 to play. Over the next five minutes, the Bulldogs struggled to take care of the basketball and Central took advantage as the hosts ballooned a one-point lead to double digits in a matter of minutes, 66-55, with 1:30 left on the clock.

Bryant continued to fight through the final buzzer but the late CCSU push was too much to overcome as the hosts took care of business down the stretch to seal the game, 70-59.

Looking ahead, Bryant will look to get back on track when they welcome the always menacing Wagner Seahawks to Smithfield for a 5 p.m. tilt in Smithfield.