Purple Knights Battle In Second Half But Drop An 82-74 ECC Women's Basketball Decision At NYIT

Old Westbury, N.Y.-After trailing by 11 points at halftime (42-31) and by as many as 17 points in the second half (48-31 with 17:39 to play), the visiting University of Bridgeport women's basketball team staged a furious comeback to take a 64-62 lead with 6:31 to play, but in the end, the host NYIT Bears regained the lead and posted an 82-74 East Coast Conference win on Long Island on Monday night.  With the loss, Bridgeport is now 1-7 overall and 0-4 in conference play.  NYIT is now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the ECC.

The Purple Knights were down by a score of 61-48 with 9:59 to play in the second half before the team went on a blistering 16-1 run to take that 64-62 lead with 6:31 to go.  With the contest tied at 66-66 with 4:05 play after UB sophomore Evelyn Ovner (Vallentuna, Sweden) converted a lay-up, NYIT would then close things out on a 16-8 run to wrap up the victory on their home court.

UB senior Jenna Hoffman (Manchester Center, Vt.) led all scorers on the night with a career-high 30 points after netting a career-best 27 points against Mercy on Saturday.  Hoffman also grabbed six rebounds.  Classmate Jennifer Kucukkaya (Sodertalje, Sweden) had a double-double on Monday night with 15 points and 11 assists for the Purple Knights.  Freshman Morgen Caution (Baltimore, Md.) rounded out UB's double-digit scorers also with 15 points on the evening plus she added six boards.

Shannon Duer led four NYIT players in double figures with 19 points.

The UB women's basketball team is back in action at home on Friday night at 5:00 p.m., when the Purple Knights will look to end a six-game losing streak against Assumption College in non-conference play.  The next afternoon, the Bridgeport women will close out their pre-Holiday schedule with a 2:00 p.m. game versus the defending NCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Champions, the Bentley University Falcons.