Staff report
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Central Connecticut State University women’s basketball team lost its regular season finale on the road to LIU Brooklyn at the Steinberg Wellness Center on Sunday, 63-57, but has secured the No. 7 seed for the Northeast Conference Tournament.
In the loss, Blue Devils senior set a new school record for most 3-pointers made in a season, while also setting career-highs in both points and three-pointers made in a game.
Patterson led the way in the game with 26 points, including seven 3-pointers.
Patterson hit her sixth 3-pointer with 53 seconds to go in the game to cut LIU Brooklyn’s lead to just 58-56, but the Blackbirds hit 16 of 20 free throws in the final quarter, including 5-for-6 in the final minute, to ice the game.
CCSU wrapped up the regular season 7-22 overall and 7-11 in NEC play and will play at either Robert Morris or Saint Francis University in the NEC Tournament quarterfinal round on Wednesday.
The Blackbirds improved to 8-10 in the NEC and 12-17 on the year.
Patterson’s third 3-pointer of the game, coming with 5:49 left in the second quarter, broke her own program record for most 3-pointers made in a single season (71), set during the 2016-17 season. She now has 76 for the season.
The first half of Sunday’s game saw each team make multiple short runs, with LIU Brooklyn building a 12-point lead with 4:23 left in the second quarter. Trailing by 11 with just under four minutes to go before halftime, Central made a 7-0 run to help gain some momentum back.
In that stretch, freshman Ashely Berube powered in buckets on back-to-back possessions and swatted away a pair of clean blocks, while junior got her first points of the match on a 3-pointer from the top of the key to bring the Blue Devils to within 30-26 at the break.
CCSU started the second half with a 13-6 run to take the lead at 39-36, its first advantage since the 4:33 mark of the first quarter.
The run was capped by Patterson’s fifth 3-pointer of the contest, coming with 5:48 left in the third.
Berube finished the game with nine rebounds to lead CCSU. LIU’s DeAngelique Waithe led the Blackbirds with 21 points.