Box Score

BLOOMFIELD, NJ - The Bloomfield College women's basketball team rose above the Lightning of Goldey-Beacom College, 61-52 today in a quarterfinal battle of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament. The Deacons advance to semifinal action on Friday, March 7th at 7:00 pm against the Lady Tigers of Holy Family University. The games will be played at the George R. Newman Center on the campus of Caldwell College. The loss ends the Lightning season with a 10-9 CACC record and 13-14 overall.

Head Coach Dave Caputo's comments...

The 7th ranked scoring defense in the country for NCAA Division II women's basketball forced 18 turnovers and converted them to 22 points en route to punching their ticket into the CACC 'Final Four'. Although the Deacons didn't shoot the ball well at 32.0% for the game, they out-rebounded the visitors (44-37) translating to a huge 24-8 advantage in 2nd chance points over Goldey-Beacom. Junior Tierra Scott (Bear, DE) played big for Bloomfield scoring a team-high 13 points to go along with 9 boards and a steal.  Freshman Tianna Smith (Nanuet, NY) added 12 points to the home team's offensive production complimented by 2 steals and a game-high 6 assists. On the other side of the court, Lillian Chukwueze (Cherry Hill, NJ) had 13 points for the Griffins and Briana Richmond-Peters (Camden, NJ) netted a double-double, grabbing a game-high 11 boards alongside 10 points.

In a game of momentum changes, Bloomfield saw different players step up and deliver in each half. The opening stanza gave freshman Morgan Taylor (Paterson, NJ) and sophomore Ariel Wilson (Chesapeake, VA) the spotlight as they both went 3-for-7 from the field and accounted for half the Deacons points in the period. Taylor's 3 buckets were all from beyond the 3-point line while Wilson hit 2 from downtown and Bloomfield built a 34-26 lead heading into the break. Goldey-Beacom shot 50.0% from the field in the first half but the stifling defense of the Deacons only afforded the Lightning 20 shots.

The second frame gave Scott an opportunity to lead the offensive attack and she delivered 9 of her 13 points in the half. Her output was supported by senior Ivettlis Castro (Carteret, NJ) who came off the bench to net all 8 of her points in the period. The Lightning would strike back using a 15-4 spurt to draw ahead of Bloomfield (45-43) after a Chukwueze jumper with 8:33 remaining on the clock. The Scott and Castro tandom scored Bloomfield's next 11 points to retake the lead but Chukwueze netted a layup and Goldey-Beacom only trailed 52-54 with 2:58 left on the clock. Smith took her turn stepping up, grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back in to swing the momentum back over the Deacons way. Castro sank a 3-pointer on the next possession to put the game out of reach and the Lightning were held scoreless over the final 2:58.   
 
The Deacons defense played efficiently forcing 4 steals in the second half, while commiting just 4 personal foals resulting in just one trip to the charity stripe for Goldey-Beacom in the period.

With 1 game down in thier CACC Championship goal, Bloomfield now turns their attention to Holy Family University who they defeated 60-56 on February 1st during the regular season. Coach Caputo and the women's basketball team will travel down the road to Caldwell College's campus where the George R. Newman Center will host thier semifinal match-up on Friday at 7:00 pm. For LIVE video action and more information on the CACC Tournament please CLICK HERE.