West Haven, CT | After taking a three-point lead into the halftime locker room, the Dolphins suffered through a nightmare third quarter that spoiled their season-opener and allowed New Haven to come away with the 68-57 victory. The victory, in what was also the season-opener for the Chargers gets them off to a 1-0 start and sends CSI away 0-1 ahead of their own home-opener looming on Tuesday night.
The two teams went back-and-forth in a hotly contested first quarter which saw the Chargers leading by as many as five in the early minutes. However, the Dolphins three-point shooting kept them within striking distance until a
Kristina Arvelo make from long-range, one of the four CSI threes in the quarter, put the Dolphins up 14-13. In a first quarter characterized by several lead changes, the two teams exchanged baskets the remainder of the way until the Chargers closed out the quarter with a three-pointer of their own to make it 20-18.
Much like the first quarter, the Chargers maintained control of the game in the opening minutes of the second leading by as many as six, but the Dolphins once again had an answer. This time, it was the Dolphins effort getting to the line that not only kept them close but also kept the Chargers in foul trouble for the remainder of the half. CSI connected on seven of their nine attempts from the charity stripe in the second with a pair by
Diedre Foster giving them the lead with 2:23 to play in half number one.
Ahead 31-30, the Dolphins would maintain that lead until the halftime break when the led 35-32. CSI's advantage was due in large part to their three-point shooting as they hit four of their ten attempts from downtown. The Dolphins also shot thirteen of seventeen from the line while the Chargers made three of the four free throws they attempted and connected on only one three-pointer.
Unfortunately for the Dolphins, the wheels seemed to come off in the third quarter when they shot 3-13 from the field and did not attempt a single free throw. They also turned the ball over ten times and the Chargers hit ten of the seventeen shots they attempted. The turnover woes combined with poor shooting allowed the Chargers to outscore the Dolphins by seventeen, 24-7, in the quarter and they took a 56-42 lead into the fourth.
CSI ultimately never recovered from that deficit and shot the ball poorly the rest of the way going 2-12 from the field in the fourth. Despite the struggles shooting, the Dolphins went a perfect 10-10 from the line in the final quarter and held the Chargers to 3-12 shooting. This was only enough to pull CSI within as close as eleven which was also the final margin of defeat in the 68-57 loss.
Aurora Deshaies led the way for the Chargers in scoring with 20 points to go along with six rebounds and Micah Wormack added another 13 points and five rebounds while dealing with foul trouble. Camryn DeBose was the team's third-leading scorer with ten and was also the team leader in rebounds with nine.
Megan McEwan was the only double-digit scorer for the Dolphins with thirteen, and despite shooting 1-7 from the floor she was 11-12 from the line.
Jada Rogers led the team on the boards with eight and scored eight points as well. Arvelo scored nine in her Dolphins debut, all coming on three-pointers, and she shot 3-6 from beyond the arc.
The Chargers outshot the Dolphins from the field 43.5% to 28% following a 5-25 second-half shooting performance by the Dolphins. Due mostly to their play in the first half, the Dolphins were far more efficient from both downtown, 6-19 versus 2-14, and from the free-throw line, 23-27 versus 12-20.
The Dolphins won't have much time to regroup following tonight's game as they will head back to The Tank for a meeting with William Paterson on Tuesday night at 6 PM in their home-opener.
