Griffins Lauded on CACC’s Weekly Report After Win over Lions
New Haven, Conn. - (11/23/2015) – Chestnut Hill College opened the 2015-2016 season, their first under Head Coach Mike West, with an impressive 33-point, 83-50, victory at Dowling College. The Griffins outrebounded the Golden Lions 63-37 and limited them to 16 second-half points in the process. A Double-double effort, 15 points and 12 rebounds, from junior guard Caity Kuhnen (Binghamton, N.Y.) and 18 points from freshman forward Jaeda Wildgoose (Somerset, N.J.) headlined the offense while junior forward Lauren Milligan (South Hampton, England) provided the defensive inspiration with a career-high 14 rebounds, a career-high seven assists, and six points. All three Griffins earned recognition on the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Weekly Report with Wildgoose and Milligan respectively garnering the league’s Rookie of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week awards while Kuhnen appeared as an Honor Roll selection.
Dowling College (0-2) held the initial advantage of the affair, harnessing an early 7-2 lead less than two minutes into the opening quarter (8:19). Wildgoose began the Chestnut Hill College (1-0) rebuttal, scoring the Griffins first four points and waking up the offense for a tightly-played first half. Neither side separated by more than six points and they tied six times, before returning to the locker rooms with Chestnut Hill College owning a 38-34 halftime edge.
The second half was a different story as an inspired pride of Griffins stifled the home team’s aspirations at every turn, holding the Golden Lions to a 14.7% (5-of-34) second-half shooting performance and outscoring them 45-16 over the final 20 minutes. Dowling College came out cold as Kuhnen and sophomore forward Nicole Parriski (Burlington, N.J.) crashed the boards, granting the Griffins a majority of the possessions. The Chestnut Hill College advantage grew to double digits, 44-34, on a Wildgoose jumper just 2:32 into the third quarter and with a three-point basket by freshman guard Dayna Sclafani (East Brunswick, N.,J.) it reached 20 points, 60-40, before the end of the frame (1:16). The margin continued to escalate in the final quarter, where a free throw Milligan pushed it to 30 points, with 1:19 to play in a 33-point final spread, 83-50.
In her Griffin debut, Wildgoose shot 7-of-10 (.700) from the floor, additionally converting four (4-of-7, .571) free throws, while recording five rebounds and a steal. Kuhnen battled through a poor long range performance (2-of-12, .167) to score 15 points in her first game in the Scarlet and Gold. She also hustled to 12 rebounds to finish two behind Milligan’s career-high 14. She additionally provided a career-high seven assists while scoring six points.
The women’s basketball team continue their opening road schedule with a 6:00 p.m. tip-off at Kutztown University on Tuesday, November 24.
