Daamen Powers Women Over Siena

The Central Connecticut women's basketball team defeated Siena 51-47 on Saturday afternoon.  The Blue Devils improve to 6-2 on the season with the victory, Siena falls to 1-6.  Junior Kirsten Daamen led the way with game-highs for points and rebounds that helped her record her first double-double of the season.

The Blue Devils went into the half trailing 25-22, thanks to a late 5-2 run by Siena to close the opening period.   Daamen, with eight points, was the only Blue Devil to score more than three points in the first half.  Junior Brooke Bailey and freshman Kaley Watras each scored three points while four other Blue Devils scored a pair of points.

Behind 12 second half points from junior Jaclyn Babe and eight from sophomore Lauren Arbogast the Blue Devils were able to battle back into the game after the break.

Central took the lead for good with seven minutes left in the game.  Arbogast hit a jumper off a pass from junior Jaclyn Babe to give Central a 41-39 lead.  A minute later sophomore Jessica babe passed to sophomore Jaleen Thomas for an easy lay-in that stretched the lead to four points, but Siena was not ready to quit.

With just under three minutes left to play, Siena cut the lead to 43-42.  Following a Siena foul, Arbogast stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Blue Devils ahead by three.  Siena again cut into the Blue Devil lead, but Jaclyn Babe stepped up and knocked down four free throws in the final 25 seconds to preserve the victory for her team.

Central's free throw shooting was a key factor in the victory.  The Blue Devils hit on 15-of-17 free throws in the game while Siena only converted on 16-of-24 chances.

Jaclyn Babe finished with 14 points and Arbogast notched 10 to join Daamen in double-digits.  Daamen totaled a game-high 15 points.

On the boards, Daamen led the way grabbing 10 rebounds in route to her first double-double of the season.  Jessica Babe grabbed seven and Arbogast recorded six, including five in the second half.

Daamen finished with an impressive single-game stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, seven blocks, three assists and a steal in a career-high 39 minutes.  The seven blocks tie the women's basketball single-game program record that Justina Udenze set against Mount St. Mary's on December 6, 2008.  Daamen now has three career games with six or more blocks, including totals of six and seven the last two games.

With 25 blocks this season, Daamen is now third on Central's career list with 95.  She is only two behind Keisha Carmichael for second place all-time

The Blue Devils next game will be at James Madison on December 18.  The game will start at 1 p.m. and will be the 1,000th in the history of the CCSU women's basketball program.