The University of Delaware women’s basketball team took home a solid 65-53 win against the UNCW Seahawks on Friday at the Bob Carpenter Center.
This marks Delaware’s seventh straight overall win against UNCW and it is also the Blue Hens eight straight win at home against the Seahawks. The Blue Hens have dominated the match up between the Seahawks with a 28-8 record since their first meeting in the 2001-2002 season.
The leading scorer for the Blue Hens was junior forward Samone DeFreese who had a career day with 26 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
Graduate student forward Makeda Nicholas also scored in double digits in the Blue Hens win with 11 points.
The Blue Hens out muscled UNCW in multiple categories in this game which includes Blocks ( 5-0), Steals (11-2), Points in the Paint (34-22), Points off turnovers ( 18-7), Second Chance Points (14-0), Bench Points ( 25-9), Rebounds ( 43-37) and Fast Break Points (10-5).
The Hens also won the turnover battle against UNCW by 15-21.
The Blue Hens also out shot the Seahawks in the win as well, as Delaware had a 41.3 % shooting percentage ( 26-63) and UNCW had a 33.9 % shooting percentage.
DeFreese Scores Eight To Help Blue Hens To Slim Lead In The First Period
The leading scorer for the Blue Hens in the first period was Samone DeFreese who had eight points and made four out of her five shots in the first period. As a team the Hens shot 46.2% ( 6-13) in the first period.
The Seahawks shot 33.3% (5-15) in the first period and still kept the game pretty close in the period.
The game started with the two teams battling as both of them were trading the lead back and forth constantly in the early minutes of the game.
Around the five minute mark in the game, UNCW went on a 5-0 run which broke the tie in the game and gave the team a 13-8 lead with 2:18 left in the first period.
Delaware would answer UNCW’s run with a 6-0 run of their own which give them a 14-13 lead to end the first period. DeFreese led the charge on the 6-0 run which she scored four of the six points.
Team Effort Keeps Things Close For Delaware At Halftime
In the second period, it was a team effort on the scoring side for the Blue Hens as Samone DeFreese, Makeda Nicholas and Paris McBride all led the team with four points each.
Delaware’s shooting was not as good as it was in the first period as the team shot 35.3% (6-17).
The Seahawks shooting improved in the second period as the team shot 38.5% ( 5-13).
The second period started with the Blue Hens going on a 10-3 run which increased their lead to 24-16 with 5:24 left in the half.
UNCW would outscore the Blue Hens 12-4 for the rest of the period to end the half with the game tied at 28.
First Half Stats
Delaware had a 40.0 % (12-30) shooting percentage in the first half and UNCW had 35.7 % (10-28).
Blue Hens shot 100.0 % (4-4) from the foul line in the first half and Seahawks shot 66.7% ( 4-6)
Hens leading scorer in the first half was Samone DeFreese with 12 points.
UNCW leading scorer in the first half was GiGi Smith with 11 points.
DeFreese Scores Nine In Third Period To Give Hens Some Breathing Room In Lead
The leading scorer for the Hens in the third period was Samone DeFreese who scored nine points.
The Hens shot their best percentage of the game in the third period with a 50% shooting percentage ( 7-14).
The Seahawks struggled with shooting in the period with shooting 33.3% (5-15).
Delaware won the turnover battle in the third period 2-7.
The third period started with the Hens going a 6-0 run which gave them a 34-28 lead with 6:58 left in the period. The run was led by DeFreese who scored five of the six points in that time span.
The Hens went on a another run in the late minutes of the period with a 8-2 run which had the team end the period with a 47-39 lead.
DeFreese Scores Five In Fourth Period To Close Out Hens Solid Win
Just like the three other periods in the game, it was Samone DeFreese who led the the Hens in scoring in the fourth with five points. As a team, Delaware shot 36.8% ( 7-19 ) in the fourth period.
UNCW struggled again with shooting as the team shot 31.3% in the fourth period.
Delaware would end the game on a 7-2 run which gave them a 65-53 home win when the final buzzer sounded.
Blue Hens stay at home for the next match up as the College of Charleston comes to town on January 27th at 1:00 pm ET.
Stats:
FG%: UD41.3 % & UNCW 33.9 %
3P%: UD 20.0 % &UNCW 35.0 %
FT%: UD 68.8 % & UNCW 22.22 %
Rebs: UD 43 & UNCW 37
Ast: UD 13 &UNCW 15
Stl: UD 11& UNCW 2
TO: UD 15&UNCW 21
Blks: UD 5 &UNCW 0
College Delaware Sports Blitz 