It was a tale of two halves as the Chestnut Hill College Women's Basketball team built a 23-point lead late in the first half only to see Bloomsburg University chip away at it in the second half and eventually pull out a 77-75 win Tuesday afternoon at Sorgenti Arena.
The Griffins fall to 1-4 with the loss. The Huskies improve to 3-1.
Bri Rider (7-11 FG) and Bridie McCann (6-14 FG) led the Griffins with 15 points apiece while Tiayo Adelekan added 14 points (6-10 FG).  Rider recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 rebounds.  Avery White and McCann led the team with six assists apiece and Caleigh Edwards snagged three steals on the afternoon.Â
Adelekan scored ten of her 14 points in the first quarter as the Griffins jumped out to a 24-12 advantage. Adelekan however picked up her third personal foul early and had to sit as rider (seven 2nd quarter points) and Angel Sanders (4 2nd quarter) points provided most of the offense in the period. Sanders jumper with 1:48 left gave the Griffins a 43-20 lead before the Huskies scored the final two baskets to make the score 42-24 at halftime.
Bloomsburg opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, taking advantage of some sloppy play by the Griffins and cutting CHC's lead to ten 45-35 just 2:35 into the period. Two minutes later, the Huskies had the lead shaved to seven 51-44. The Griffins countered with a 12-4 run to push their lead back to 15, 63-48 with 3:02 left. Edwards had five points during the run while rider and Siobhan Boylan added baskets. McCann's lone three-point basket of the game capped the run. The Huskies added two free throws with 1:41 left to round out the third quarter as the Griffins led 63-50.
The Huskies opened the fourth quarter with a 17-6 uprising, cutting the lead to just two 69-67 with 4:11 left. McCann's basket with 2:13 left gave the Griffins a 75-69 lead but Chestnut Hill would not score again with the Huskies completing the comeback with an 8-0 run to close out the game and secure a two-point win, 77-75.
For the game, the Griffins had the better shooting game (46.4% (32-69) to BU's 39.7% (29-73)). The Huskies however made eight more free throws (14-21) to CHC's (6-11) and kept the Griffins off the foul line for the entire 4th quarter while converting eight of 13 from the charity stripe. CHC out-rebounded the Huskies 52-35 but BU took advantage of 21 Griffin turnovers, scoring 25 points off the CHC miscues. Bloomsburg had 11 turnovers leading to 12 points for the Griffins.
Ava Stevenson came off the bench to lead the Huskies with 20 points. Leah Kale and Kaitlin Starr had 16 and 15 points respectively.
The women's basketball team returns to action on Thursday, November 21, 2024 when they host perennial region powerhouse Daemen University for another afternoon matinee. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m.
