WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team defeated Central Connecticut State, 56-43 in the Northeast Conference opener for both teams on Thursday evening at the Multipurpose Activity Center. The Hawks, winners of five straight, improve to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in the league, while the Blue Devils fall to 5-2 and 0-1 in the NEC.
Gena Broadus (Washington, D.C. /Archbishop Carroll [George Mason]) led the Hawks with 11 points, while Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa. /Cardinal O'Hara) added 10 points and a team-high three steals.
After MU's Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J. /Columbia) scored the game's first point on a free throw with 16:34 showing in the first half, CCSU responded with a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead with six minutes left in the opening half.
Carly Thibault's (East Lyme, Conn. /East Lyme) second three-pointer in as many trips for the Hawks knotted the game at 11-11 with 9:32 left before halftime. The tightly-contest league affair continued as Central's Brooke Bailey connected on a jumper to even the score at 17-17 with 3:00 left before the half.
A quick 6-0 scoring run, punctuated by a Martin fast-break lay-up off an assist from Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md. /Bishop McNamara), helped Monmouth to a 25-21 halftime lead. The Hawks shot 34.5% from the field in the first half, while CCSU connected on 33.3% of its opening-half shots.
The Hawks started the second half on the 9-2 run, and with just under 14 minutes to play, Betsy Gadziala (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) hit two free throws to give the Hawks their first double-digit lead of the game. With 11:39 left in regulation, Womack hit a lay-up to push the lead to 38-27.
Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin) knocked down a three with 7:12 left to increase the Hawks' lead to 16. After a layup by Central's Leanne Crockett cut the Hawks' lead to ten with less than three minutes to play, Broadus hit a foul shot to push the lead to 11. Canady converted a traditional three-point play to push MU's lead back to 16 points late.
Canady contributed eight points and a career-high tying 11 rebounds. Thibault added eight points and four rebounds, while Martin had seven points and six rebounds.
MU shot 33.9% for the game, while limiting Central to 28.6%. The Hawks turned CCSU's 19 turnovers into 19 points in the game, and limited the visitor's to 0-of-9 shooting from three-point range.
Monmouth returns to action on Saturday when it visits Fordham for a 1:00 pm tip.
