NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College women's basketball team came up on the short end of a 52-44 final in a non-conference clash with Trinity College on Friday night at Luce Field House.
Conn trailed by 19 in the fourth quarter but stormed back behind 16 unanswered points, cutting the deficit to 47-44 with 1:22 remaining in the contest. The Bantams, however, held on by scoring five points in the final minute, improving to 3-0 on the season.
Jaycie Rojik (Scituate, Mass.) made her season debut and came off the bench to lead the Camels with 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting.
Catie Donadio (Clinton, Conn.) added 10 points, five rebounds and four steals, and
Rebecca Oberman-Levine (Hamden, Conn.) and
Aislinn McMahon (Andover, Mass.) contributed eight points apiece.
In a first half where points were hard to come by for both sides, Conn hung close and trailed 17-13 following a layup by Rojik with 2:48 left in the stanza. The Bantams responded with an 8-0 run to close the half, taking a double-digit lead into the intermission led by eight points from Reilly Campbell (Wallingford, Conn.).
After shooting just 21 percent in the first half, Conn bounced back after the break and cut the deficit to four behind a 10-0 run that featured five points from Donadio. The Bantams once again had an answer, scoring 18 of the final 21 points of the period to take a 45-26 advantage into the fourth.
A layup by Reilly put Trinity up 19 with 9:22 to go in the fourth, but the visitors would go the next 8:30 without a point. Conn's play on the defensive end jump started the offense, which scored on four straight possessions to cut the deficit back to single digits. McMahon got things rolling with back-to-back three-pointers, and Oberman-Levine followed with a pair of jumpers.
The Camels lost some steam after a layup by Donadio trimmed the deficit to seven. Neither team scored for over three minutes, but Rojik got Conn back on track with a layup in the paint. On the ensuing Trinity possession, Donadio came up with a big steal at midcourt and fed Rojik for another bucket that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
With its 19-point lead whittled down to three, Trinity ended its scoring drought thanks to a tough side-step jumper by Emma Wax (Pine Brook, N.J.) with 52 seconds remaining. The Bantams added their final three points at the foul line to sew up the win.
Campbell led all scorers with 16 points and tacked on a game-high 16 rebounds. Wax and Bria Fuller (Springdale, Md.) also finished in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Camels (1-2 overall) return to action at Holy Cross on Sunday, November 20 at 1:00 p.m.
