The Central Connecticut women's basketball team snapped Fairleigh Dickinson's five-game win streak on Monday night in dominating fashion, 76-56, inside Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils competed strong for 40 minutes without missing a beat and held the Knights to 23-for-62 (.371) shooting including a weak 1-for-14 (.071) performance from downtown.
Central Connecticut advances to 4-7 in the Northeast Conference and 4-18 on the year with its second straight win and Fairleigh Dickinson drops to 6-4 in the NEC and 14-8 this season. The Blue Devils out-rebounded FDU 47-29, led by junior Andi Lydon who gathered seven boards and netted a game-high 21 points.
Junior Kiana Patterson dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with 19 points for CCSU. The New Britain crew shot a season-best 46.8 percent from the floor on 29-of-62 shooting. Central converted 11-of-23 three-pointers (.478), marking the fifth time this season the Blue Devils have hit on 10 or more threes in a game.
The Blue Devils were on fire from the field to start the game, shooting 46.2 percent (6-13), but committed six turnovers that allowed the Knights to hang with them in the opening minutes. Patterson ripped through to the left baseline and finessed in a runner in the closing seconds to give Central a 15-14 lead heading into the second quarter.
CCSU would score the first seven points of the quarter, adding to an 12-0 run to force the Knights to call a time out with 7:36 on the clock down 23-14. FDU's Madelynn Comly put an end to the Central spurt with a tough finish in transition with 5:03 left before halftime, scoring the first basketball for the cold-shooting Knights since the 1:53 mark in the first quarter.
Junior Sydney Hines connected on 3-of-4 in the last five minutes of the first half, draining eight points off the bench. Patterson dished the ball back to a trailing Lydon for a three in the closing seconds to put an exclamation point on a tremendous first half performance from the Blue Devils.
CCSU held a 39-23 halftime lead, tying the least amount of first half points the Blue Devils have surrendered this season. Central held FDU to a season-low 9-of-34 (26.5%) from the field and netted a season-best 15-for-27 (55.6%) on its home floor.
Lydon ignited the second half right where she left off to pouring in eight points on two triples and jumper at the top of the key to hand Central Connecticut its largest lead this season of 22 points, 47-25, at the 7:52 mark in the third quarter.
The Knights put together a 9-0 run to cut the deficit down to 13 points with 4:12 on the clock but would come to a halt on the Blue Devils six three of the game that came off the rookie hand of Ashley Forker.
CCSU maintained a 54-40 edge three-fourths of the way through the contest.
On a torrent, Central continued the field day when freshman Tiffany Slicklein and Hines drained back-to-back three-pointers to start the final period, keeping the Knights far in the distance. Hines finished with two career-highs in points and three-pointers made, with 19 points and 4-of-6 threes. Slicklein tied her career-high of nine points in her first career start this season. Rookie Ashley Berube pulled down eight rebounds to lead CCSU on the glass.
Fairleigh Dickinson's Amina Markovic registered her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren Francillon led four players in double-figures with 14 points and added eight boards.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team will look to make it three in a row against Bryant at home on Saturday, February 10 in the first game of a doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. broadcasted on ESPN 3.