WEST POINT, N.Y. (November 20, 2015) -- Three players finished in double figures to help send the U.S. Military Academy at West Point women's basketball team to an 81-52 victory over Central Connecticut State Christl Arena, Nov. 19.
Army improves to 3-0 following the win, while Central Connecticut State slips to 1-2.
Senior Cadet Kelsey Minato netted a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting to move her career scoring total to 1,890. Minato now stands 51 points shy of Army Hall of Famer Katie Macfarlane's Academy record of 1,941 points.
Classmate Cadet Aimee Oertner reached a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, and freshman Cadet Madison Hovren tallied a career-best 11 points while shooting 7-of-8 from the foul line.
Kiana Patterson and Aleah Epps paced Central Connecticut State with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
"A lot of our success tonight was in the way we started the game," said head coach Dave Magarity. "Oertner was a real presence early and throughout the first half. I'm really pleased with our play off the bench. Hovren had a career night and the ability for us to bring people in and be solid contributors was big for us.
"Brigette Ocran came in and contributed right away. I thought Janae McNeal and Daizjah Morris had good stretches defensively and that kind of changed the tone of the game. We forced 28 turnovers and I think we'll need to continue to do that to be successful."
Central Connecticut State scored on its first possession of the game to take a 2-0 lead before Army took off on a 17-0 run, which included 10 points from Oertner. Oertner shot 4-of-7 from the floor during the 6:10 run while also adding three rebounds in the process.
Oertner made a lay-up 29 seconds into the second period to extended the Black Knights' lead to 22 points, 27-5, but the Blue Devils came back to make the score 27-13 after eight unanswered points to include six straight by Caitland Considine. Considine closed the run with a four-point play that was followed by a fast-break lay-in at the second quarter's 7:24 mark.
Central Connecticut State netted five the of game's next nine points during the next 1:06 to make the score 31-18 before Army began a 14-0 run that ended with a pair of free-throws by Hovren with 1:23 to play in the first half.
The visitors scored final three points of the first half to bring the halftime score to 45-21. The Blue Devils increased their run to 6-0 after netting the first three points to begin the third period to make the score 45-24 early in the second half.
Minato, who scored eight points in the first half, hit four straight free-throws at the 6:27 mark of the third period to start a mini 5-0 run for the Black Knights before Army extended its run to 17-6 with 42 seconds remaining in the frame. The hosts shot 9-of-10 at the foul line during their 5:45 run, including free-throws from Minato (4), Hovren (2), sophomore Cadet Aliyah Murray (2) and junior Cadet Dani Failor (1).
The Black Knights took a 62-33 advantage into the fourth period and scored the first seven points of the final quarter to boost their lead to 36 points by the 6:51 mark.
The Blue Devils outscored the hosts, 19-12, over the final 6:00 of the period, but only got back to within 29 points on two occasions, doing so for the final time with 21 ticks left.
Army travels to face nationally ranked Duke in its first road test of the 2015-16 season on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. The Blue Devils are currently ranked 14th in the AP poll and ninth in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Related Links:
Army West Point Athletics website
U.S. Army Garrison West Point website
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