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‘Cats struggle over break

By SAM ROGERS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In their first home game of the second semester, the Wildcats welcomed the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers to Durham. Despite trailing by one at halftime and playing a close first half, UNH dropped the America East matchup 65-55.
Sophomore Carlie Pogue led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points. Senior Elizabeth Belanger continues to make history as she added 13 points to her current point total, which eclipsed 1,000 points earlier this year against Pennsylvania. The two combined for 14 rebounds.
Belanger’s ten first-half points, and freshman Ashley Storey’s four, kept the Wildcats close heading into halftime, trailing 26-25. UNH had the edge in shooting percentage in the first half, with a 40 percent to 36 percent advantage. Although the Wildcats saw their shots falling, the third quarter proved to be their downfall.
UNH only scored seven points in the third frame and trailed 42-32 heading into the final ten minutes. UNH and UMBC were even in the fourth, both scoring 23 points. Although the ‘Cats had broken their scoring drought from the third, they couldn’t rally a comeback from the ten-point deficit.
“We couldn’t score, the third quarter killed us.” Belanger said.
The Wildcats have been playing even basketball in most of their games for three quarters but they haven’t been able to complete their game. Belanger, one of the team’s co-captains, noticed the lack of third quarter scoring.
“(Not being able to score in the third has) happened to us in many games.”
Senior co-captain Corinne Coia was sidelined due to a knee injury, and her presence down low and her leadership were missed on Saturday.
Head coach Maureen Magarity wasn’t on the bench to lead the ‘Cats, because she and her husband welcomed a new child into the family. In her absence, assistant coach Kelsey Hogan took over the coaching role, and she also had her own worries about the team’s third quarter play.
“We did a great job of coming out in the start of the game,” Hogan said. “Our scores were coming from the defensive end but obviously we didn’t do that in the second half.”
Over the winter break, the Wildcats had a tough stretch, losing nine games in a row, and they are now 1-12 in their last 13 games. The ‘Cats record is 7-14 and 1-7 in America East play. After Saturday’s loss, UNH will have a week off before they start the second half of conference play.
“We just have to keep working, keep working on the little things,” Belanger said.
“There’s time to turn this around,” Hogan said.
UNH lost to Binghamton at the buzzer when they met on Jan. 9 in New York. Elizabeth Belanger said that it will be “nice to have some redemption,” when the two teams face off next weekend.
UNH will play Binghamton University Saturday February 6th at 1 p.m. The game will be Alumni Day and the “You Can Play Game” at Lundholm Gymnasium.

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