WATERBURY, Conn. – Coming off of a complete bye week, Post University Women's Basketball finished off their home slate on Saturday afternoon in the Drubner Center, honoring three seniors for Senior Day before their critical game against Bloomfield College. Junior forward Nicole Parks had a career afternoon, pouring in 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting while senior forward Roxkel Washington put in 10 points off the bench as the Eagles had an electric second half in the Drubner Center en route to their fourth straight victory, 66-51.

Heading into the final week of the season, Post is guaranteed at least the third seed in the CACC North Division for the CACC Tournament, but still has a chance at a home game in the CACC Quarterfinals depending on the outcome of their final game and the final two games of Caldwell University's season as they sit in second with an 8-6 record in conference play. 

THE BASICS

Post University 66, Bloomfield College 51

Post University (9-18, 8-7 CACC)
 
Bloomfield College (6-18, 3-12 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Similarly to their first outing down in New Jersey, neither team would come out of the gate particularly strong as it was just a 10-8 advantage for the Eagles after 10 minutes of action, a near reverse from the last matchup when the Bears led 12-9 after the first quarter. Senior guard Jayden Burns and sophomore guard Hannah Finnerty each led Post with three points while senior guard Kamrin Babbs and junior forward Anisha Able each had three for Bloomfield in that stretch.

For the Eagles, it was just a 4-for-18 first quarter from the floor while it was equally as tough for the Bears to knock down a shot, going 2-for-16 overall. Two of the four shots for Post came from three-point land while four of the eight Bloomfield points came courtesy of free throws.
 
With the Senior Day crowd on their side, the Eagles used that to gain momentum into the second quarter as Parks and senior guard Naj White helped Post take a four-point lead, 14-10. Leading by just one point, 16-15, nearing the halfway point of the frame, senior forward Roxkel Washington led off a 7-0 run for the Eagles, capped off by a deep three by Burns, giving Post their largest lead of the first half by eight points, 23-15. 

Leading by seven at the break, 29-22, it was Parks with a team-high 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting followed by Burns' six points leading the way for the Eagles while Babbs led the Bears with eight points on 3-for-8 shooting. A much improved second quarter saw Post shoot 8-for-12 from the floor while Bloomfield continued to struggle, shooting 4-for-16 and heading into the half shooting 6-for-23 overall (18.8%).

Continuing the trend of low-scoring quarters like in the first matchup, the shooting struggles for both sides reappeared as the Eagles went 5-for-17 overall and 0-for-10 from three-point range while the Bears shot below 25% again with a 3-for-13 effort. Two free throws for Parks gave Post their largest lead of the game coming out of the half at nine points which ballooned up to 10 points towards the end of the frame following a jumper from White before coming down to eight entering the fourth, 41-33. 

Continuing to lead the offense for Post, Parks started the fourth quarter hot with six points, bringing her to a career-high 18 points and opening up a commanding 51-38 lead for the Eagles with 6:26 left in regulation. The junior would not stop there, dropping another five points as part of an 11-point final quarter in which Post scored a team-best 25 points for the game. Walking off the court to a standing ovation from the crowd, Washington's pair of free throws with 3:21 remaining gave the Eagles a game-high 20-point lead, 64-44, closing out their fourth straight win in dramatic fashion, 66-51, at home. 

On the Bloomfield side, they finished the game shooting only 26.2% from the field, making 16-of-61 shots overall and making 13-of-21 free throws (61.9%) which kept them in most of the game. It would not be until the fourth quarter that the Bears would shoot above 30%, making 7-of-16 (43.7%) shots and creating a game-best 18 points as a team.

Senior guard Taneshia Tucker led Bloomfield with 16 points on only 4-of-12 shooting, earning five of her points from the free throw line while Babbs had 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting with a team-high nine rebounds in the loss. Parks (23 points), White (12 points), and Washington (10 points) all finished in double-digits for a Post team that got better as the game went on shooting-wise, finishing 27-for-65 (41.5%) in the game and 42.8% in the second half of the win. 

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Nicole Parks finished with a career-high 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting while bringing in six rebounds and dishing out three assists in the win for Post University 
• Jasmine Day-Cox followed up her double-double last game with another double-digit rebound game, having 10 rebounds, six assists, six points, and three blocks to stuff the stat sheet for Post University 
• Post University has won 10 of their last 11 games against Bloomfield College in the all-time series with the outlier being the last game on the road, in which they fell by 14 points, 59-45 
• With the win today, Post University has won four straight games for the first time this season -- The last time the Eagles won four or more straight games was from January 23rd, 2024, until February 14th, 2024, when they won six straight games 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University closes out its 2024-25 regular season against the University of Bridgeport on the road next Saturday at 1:00 PM. Back in December, the Eagles got their first conference win of the season against the Purple Knights at home, 55-52, after a few late baskets by Nicole Parks helped get them across the finish line for the victory.