BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Senior guard Jayden Burns and the Post University Women's Basketball team are hitting their stride at just the right time. Burns, who scored a career-high 16 points on Saturday for the Eagles in their 22-point blowout win against the University of Bridgeport, 76-54, helped Post extend their season-best winning streak to five straight games as they prepare for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament next week.

Entering the tournament as the North Division's third seed, Post will head to the South Division's second seeded Holy Family University on Tuesday night at 6:00 PM after the Tigers fell to Jefferson University, 75-64, in a battle for that division's top spot on Saturday. 

THE BASICS

Post University 76, University of Bridgeport 54

Post University (10-18, 9-7 CACC)
 
University of Bridgeport (3-25, 3-13 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
A slow start for both teams saw just six combined points, putting Post ahead by two, 4-2, with still five minutes to play in the first quarter. That would be when the Eagles turned it on to take an eight-point lead, 20-12, after the first 10 minutes. Tied at six all with 3:26 left, sophomore guard Hannah Finnerty, who had six points in the first quarter, drained a three which started an 11-1 run over the next 2 ½ minutes, putting Post ahead by double digits, 17-7. 

As a team, the Eagles opened the game shooting 57.1% (8-for-15) from the field, hitting 50% of their threes (3-for-6). Although graduate forward Shakira Hester would have a team-high six points for the Purple Knights on 3-for-6 shooting, Bridgeport had just 10 shots from the floor, making five of them while turning the ball over nine times. 

The turnovers would be limited for the Purple Knights in the second quarter, committing only four, which allowed them to get back into the affair. Emerging in the frame to finish the half with nine points was junior guard Mackenzie Creighton, who went 4-for-5 from the floor, helping her team pull even after trailing by 11 points at the start of the quarter following a three from Burns. 

Creighton's layup with 4:29 to go in the half tied the game up for Bridgeport at 25 points all, marking the first time since it was 6-6 in the first quarter in which the two teams were even. Twice more, the Purple Knights would respond to tie things up with the half winding down before Finnerty gave the Eagles a narrow three-point lead, 32-29, heading into the break. Like Creighton, Finnerty led Post with nine points, going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 3-for-4 overall. 

Capitalizing heavily off the Purple Knight turnovers, the Eagles had 13 points off the 13 turnovers committed while allowing just two points off the seven turnovers they committed. While both teams shot above 40% overall, the difference that gave Post the lead was their 5-for-11 showing from three-point range that Bridgeport could not match with a 1-for-4 effort. 

Coming out of the gate in the second half on fire, Post kicked things off with an 11-0 run, ballooning their lead to 14 points, 43-29, and holding Bridgeport scoreless for the first 5 1/2 minutes of the third quarter. Eventually breaking that scoreless drought was senior guard Skylar Parris with her three-point make which was immediately responded to with another long-range shot from Burns. While senior guard Sade Young's layup with 1:50 to go cut the Purple Knight deficit down to single digits at nine points, 48-39, that would be the closest they got the rest of the way. 

Leading 55-42 entering the fourth quarter, Post's lead would only continue to grow from there and reach its largest margin of the game with 1:33 left when freshman forward McKensi Forde hit a layup and then stayed there as sophomore forward Emma Carman closed things with two free throws in the 76-54 victory.

Freshman guard Jasmine Day-Cox did a little bit of everything for the Eagles on both sides of the ball, finishing with a team-high nine rebounds to go along with her eight points on perfect 3-for-3 shooting and also tacked on five assists, four steals, and one block. Four Post players finished with double-digit point totals in Burns with 16 points, senior guard Naj White with 13 points, Finnerty with 12 points, and sophomore forward Alyssa Rossignol with 10 points in her return from a three-game absence.

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Setting a new career-high in points, Jayden Burns finished her final regular season with Post University scoring a game-high 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting while hitting 4-of-7 threes and collecting five rebounds along the way 
• Narrowly missing her third straight double-digit rebound game, Jasmine Day-Cox finished today's game with nine rebounds to go along with eight points on 3-for-3 shooting, five assists, four steals, and one block 
• After starting the all-time series with a 1-8 record, Post University has now won seven consecutive games against the University of Bridgeport dating back to the 2021-22 season 
• With the win today, Post University has won five straight games for the first time this season -- The last time the Eagles won five or more consecutive games was from January 23rd, 2024, until February 14th, 2024, when they won six consecutive games 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University will head into the CACC Tournament as the North Division's third seed, sending them to the South Division's two seed in Holy Family University this Tuesday at 6:00 PM down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Tigers, who were ranked 20th in the nation back on January 4th when they faced Post at home, beat them 68-45, but enter the tournament having lost two straight games after falling to Jefferson University on Saturday afternoon to drop into the South Division's second spot.