NEWARK, Del. - - A hot shooting third quarter allowed Caldwell to overtake the Wilmington University women's basketball team, 79-62, on Saturday afternoon in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross-divisional matchup at the WU Athletics Complex.
The Cougars led the Wildcats, 35-34, at the halftime break, but then went on to shoot 57.9 percent from the floor while winning the third quarter, 27-11, to expand the lead and win the conference matchup.
Aniyah Bond hit a three-pointer midway through the first quarter to tie the game, 8-8, but then the Cougars (4-7, 1-2 CACC) went on an 11-0 run to take a 19-8 lead. Amber Washington ended the quarter with a three-pointer, as the Wildcats (1-13, 0-4 CACC) trailed 19-11.
The Cougar lead extended out to 10 with the first bucket of the second quarter, but then the Wildcats went on a 15-3 run to take the lead. Trinity Brittingham hit a three-pointer to start the run before Washington hit back-to-back triples. Mia Fuller capped the run with a three-pointer of her own, giving the Wildcats a 26-24 lead with 4:24 to play. Trinity Brittingham made it 28-26 with a jumper but then the Cougars scored five unanswered before Brittingham tied the game again with a three-pointer, 31-31. The teams traded leads with free throws down the stretch before Caldwell had the last layup to take a 35-34 lead into the break.
Daja Claiborne scored the first bucket of the second half to give the Wildcats the lead, but a 10-0 Cougar run gave the visitors a 52-40 lead with 3:19 left in the third. The lead ballooned to as many as 18 points in the quarter before taking a 62-45 lead into the final quarter.
The Wildcats got the deficit to 14 points on different occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars always had an answer to keep the Wildcats an arm's length away.
The Wildcats shot 8-of-12 from three-point territory in the first half, but went empty-handed, 0-for-12, in the second half. The Wildcats tied a season low with 14 turnovers while forcing 21 Cougar turnovers and scoring 24 points off those mistakes.
Amber Washington scored 22 points while hitting four three-pointers, adding two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Aniyah Bond had 10 points and nine rebounds while Daja Claiborne finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Trinity Brittingham added 10 points to go with six rebounds and four steals.
The Wildcats have a midweek bye before returning to action next Saturday at Felician. The game in North Jersey is set for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff.
