CCSU Tops Siena Behind Harrington's Career-High
Sophomore Amanda Harrington scored a career-high 22 points in the victory.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team improved to 3-0 at home this season with a 17-point victory over Siena on Tuesday night. The Blue Devils (4-3) used a 16-0 run to take a 20-6 lead over the Saints (3-3) midway through the first half. CCSU carried a double-digit lead throughout the second half in the 70-53 win.
Sophomore Amanda Harrington finished the game with a career-high 22 points on 11-of-12 shooting. She connected on her first 10 field goal attempts of the game and finished shooting 91.6% from the floor, which is the third best single-game shooting performance in program history.
CCSU shot 52.0% (26-50) as a team in the game.
In the first half, Harrington kicked off CCSU's strong start by scoring six of the team's first 10 points. Senior Jaleen Thomas added four of the first 10 and finished the period with five points. Senior Jessica Babe contributed six points and four rebounds in the half on two-of-three shooting.
As a team CCSU shot 50.0% (13-26) for the period and led 30-17 at the break.
In the second half the Blue Devils maintained a double-digit lead throughout the period and led by as many as 19 midway through the half.
The Saints closed the gap to 10 points with 8:26 left to play, but the Blue Devils answered with a layup by Bailey, a pair of Babe free throws and a layup by Harrington to push the lead back to 16 with 6:43 left to play.
Harrington's 22 points led all scorers. She was joined in double-digits by Babe (16) and senior Brooke Bailey (11). Babe and Bailey did the bulk of their scoring at the free throw line. Babe connected for six points at the line and Bailey five.
The Blue Devils held a slight edge in rebounding with Babe's seven leading the way.
Junior Kaley Watras contributed seven points and six assists.
Harrington's 91.6% shooting night trails Leanne Crockett's nine-for-nine (100%) performance against Fairleigh Dickinson on Jan. 30, 2010 and Keisha Carmichael's 12-for-13 (92.3%) mark on CCSU's single-game list.
Harrington's doubled her previous career-high of 11 points, which she set last Tuesday against Hartford.
The Blue Devils return to action on Sunday at Vermont.
