WATERBURY, Conn. –  It has been a long time coming for Post University Women's Basketball who has been looking for their first win of the season after heading into Saturday's conference matchup against the University of Bridgeport having lost their first six games of the season. Squandering a 14-point lead in the second half, a pair of big jumpers from freshman guard Jasmine Day-Cox and junior forward Nicole Parks inside of a minute remaining in regulation helped lift the Eagles to a narrow 55-52 win in the Drubner Center.

THE BASICS

Post University 55, University of Bridgeport 52

Post University (1-6, 1-1 CACC)
 
University of Bridgeport (1-8, 1-1 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
A pair of 15-10 quarters for the Eagles in the first half allowed them to jump out to a 10-point lead, 30-20, on the Purple Knights after 20 minutes as sophomore forward Hannah Finnerty once again led the offense at halftime, this time with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting with a pair of threes on four total attempts.

Senior guard Jayden Burns and Day-Cox each tallied six points as well which was the same number of points that Bridgeport's leading scorer in graduate forward Ana Gascon had while playing the entire half. Gascon was one of two Purple Knights to play all 20 minutes of the first half along with senior forward Shakira Hester who had two points on 1-of-3 shooting.

At the half, both teams were over 40% from the floor with the difference being a 4-for-10 effort from long range to complement 7-of-12 free throws for Post while Bridgeport went 0-for-4 with 4-of-9 free throws made. Of the 30 first-half points for the Eagles, 21 of them came off a gaudy 22 turnovers by the Purple Knights who led for only 21 seconds in the first half when they briefly took a 19-17 lead in the second quarter.

The lead for Post would grow to as many as 14 points following a pair of free throws from Parks with 5:23 left in the third before the Purple Knight offense slowly got things going to make a run towards the end of the frame which carried over in the fourth. Now trailing 43-29 with 3:13 to go, a 10-0 run to end the quarter for Bridgeport started with a jumper from senior forward Shakira Hester who was one of four scorers on the run which was led by four points from Gascon.

Suddenly leading by only four points, 43-39, with one quarter left to play, the Eagles would have to rely on their defense to make some stops to hold off the Purple Knights. After freshman center Zahkiyyah Frazier started the fourth off with a layup to make it a two-point game, Burns and graduate guard Erin Harris scored the next four points to re-up the lead to six points, 47-41 only a minute later.

Taking their first lead since the second quarter would be Bridgeport as an ensuing 8-0 run with the help of four points from junior guard Niyah Whitten suddenly made it a 49-47 game with about five minutes left in regulation. It would be nearly 2 ½ minutes before the next basket which came from Harris to tie the game back up at 49 all and following Whitten going one-for-two at the free throw line, Post would retake the lead for good with a pair of free throws from Burns just moments later.

With only 1:15 left, Day-Cox's jumper made it a three-point game and was quickly followed by Gascon's jumper to cut the Post lead back down to one, 53-52, with still 54 seconds left. After a miss from Harris, Parks' rebound and score proved to be the dagger despite three missed free throws from the Eagles in the final 30 seconds.

A miss from freshman guard Ciera Cevallos from three for the Purple Knights and a heave at the buzzer would prove unsuccessful as the Eagles escaped with their first win and conference win of the season, 55-52, on Saturday.

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Four players finished in double figures for Post University with Hannah Finnerty leading all Eagle scorers with 11 points followed by 10 points each from Jayden Burns, Alyssa Rossignol, and Jasmine Day-Cox
• Ana Gascon finished with a game-high 16 points for the University of Bridgeport on 7-of-16 shooting while snagging eight rebounds and playing all 40 minutes of the game
• In their first seven games of the season, Post University has committed 20-plus turnovers in each affair while doing so in just eight games throughout the entire 2023-24 season – The Eagles committed 24 turnovers in today's win
• Forcing 37 turnovers by the University of Bridgeport, that is the most single-game turnovers forced by Post University since at least before the 2011-12 season in which recorded statistics display

WHO'S NEXT
Post University gets back on the hardwood at home this Wednesday evening at 5:30 PM to take on American International College in the Drubner Center. Last year the two sides faced off in Springfield, Massachusetts where the Eagles fell 94-70, snapping a two-game winning streak against the Yellow Jackets.