Box Score (HTML)

BLOOMSBURG – In a matchup of teams that both reached last year's NCAA Tournament, visiting New Haven proved why it has aspirations to again make a run to March by pulling the 82-66 upset over No. 16 Bloomsburg in the 2014-15 women's basketball season opener at Nelson Field House on Friday night.
 
New Haven, the preseason favorite to win the Northeast-10 Southwest Division, set the tone early on a jumper from reigning honorable mention All-America selection Aquillin Hayes – and began what would be a recurring theme.
 
The Chargers (1-0) led for all but 1:40 of game time and never trailed behind a stellar performance from Hayes who fought through injury to post a game-high 25 points along with 10 rebounds and three assists.
 
Both teams struggled to find rhythm offensively early, but the Chargers held a narrow lead through the first 12 minutes before stretching their edge to nine at 22-13 on a layup from Ashley LeBlanc with just over seven minutes left in the half.
 
Bloomsburg (0-1) began to pull closer with a layup and-one from Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) and a 3-pointer from Taylor Maldonado (Stroudsburg/Allentown Central Catholic) to draw within three at 24-21 at the 4:43 mark of the half. From there, however, the Chargers finished the half on a 13-6 push to lead 37-27 at the break.
 
New Haven shot over 55 percent from the floor during the first half and did not cool down, ultimately finishing at 55.6 percent (30-for-54). While the Huskies put up 18 more field goal attempts than the Chargers, the home squad managed just 36.1 percent (26-72) from the field.
 
Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) drained a jumper to begin the second half and cut the deficit to single digits, but Bloomsburg would trail by less than 10 just once more during the second half as the Chargers slowly pulled away thanks in large part to Hayes.
 
The senior guard, who is also the reigning NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year, left briefly during the first half cringing due to an apparent injury and seemed to battle through it the rest of the night – but her stats didn't show any troubles. Hayes had 14 points at intermission and continued her strong play throughout the night, finishing on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and was also 7-of-9 at the line.
 
Sadowski was the standout offensively for the Huskies, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes of play but was limited with foul trouble. Two other Huskies reached double figures as Maldonado tallied 10 points with five steals and three assists in her Bloomsburg debut and Jocelyn Ford (Lansing, NY/Lansing) registered 10 points, four steals and four rebounds.
 
Along with Hayes, Briana Bradford provided offensive spark with 17 points and LeBlanc registered 10 points off the bench.
 
The Huskies forced New Haven into 22 turnovers, but could turn those miscues into only 17 points of offense on the other end of the court.
 
Bloomsburg begins PSAC East play by traveling to Cheyney in its next time out – that game is set for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff on Nov. 19.