SCORE: UAlbany 63, Bryant 50
 
LOCATION: McDonough Sports Complex (HVCC) - Troy, N.Y.
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 11-8, 5-0 America East | Bryant 5-12, 0-5 America East
 
SHORT STORY: The Great Danes battled the Bulldogs for the lead in the first half before their second-half power led to a 13-point victory, Wednesday night.
 
COACH COLLEEN MULLEN: "Tonight was a great team win. Our bench depth really showed tonight and our players competed to win. Bryant is a scrappy, well-coached team and I am proud of the way our team competed and executed down the stretch."
 
KEY STATS

• Senior Helene Haegerstrand and junior Kayla Cooper led the Great Danes. 
• Cooper notched a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists, two steals, and one block.
• Haegerstrand tallied 23 points and six rebounds while adding two assists and one block.
• Redshirt-junior Morgan Haney grabbed nine points. Two baskets (a layup and a three-pointer) were sealed in the first quarter and two (a jumper and a layup) were scored in a row during the fourth quarter.
• Senior Grace Heeps tied Cooper with a game-high two steals and graduate student Lucia Decortes totaled a team-high two blocks.
• The Great Danes opened the game shooting 7-9 (77.8%) in the first quarter and closed the game shooting 8-14 (57.1%) in the fourth.
• For the first contest of the year, all student-athletes on the roster were eligible to play and all student-athletes saw time on the court.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Great Danes opened the contest with nine points in just over two minutes of action to gain a seven-point lead, the largest of the first half.
• Trading baskets for the next four minutes, the Bulldogs tied the score at 13.
• Closing the first quarter, Kayla Cooper and Morgan Haney each added a basket to give UAlbany a five-point lead heading into the second.
• In a low-scoring start to the second quarter, Cooper notched two steals in a row - both of which led to layups for the Great Danes.
• After three minutes of play, offense kicked up for both teams before Bryant tallied an 8-0 scoring run to put the game within one point, 26-25, at 4:30.
• The Bulldogs finished the first half with seven unanswered points to enter halftime with a 32-28 advantage.
• Helene Haegerstrand came out of the break to add two field goals and tie the game at 32 for the Great Danes.
• Bryant answered with a field goal of their own but two-straight jumpers from Cooper and UAlbany was back on top, 36-34, with 7:02 on the third-quarter clock.
• The lead changed an additional four times in the third quarter alone but the Great Danes earned the advantage with a 7-2 scoring run to close the quarter.
• UAlbany continued to build upon their lead taking a 10-point lead after just two minutes of fourth-quarter action.
• Forcing a Bryant timeout at 3:55, the Great Danes held the Bulldogs to just one field goal, scoring four of their own, in the four-minute timespan.
• UAlbany finished the quarter, and the game, strong. Outscoring Bryant, 18-9, in the final quarter, the Great Danes earned a 63-50 victory.

 
NEXT: The Great Danes will continue at home, hosting NJIT on January 14.
 
For more information on the University at Albany women's basketball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanywbb
Instagram - @ualbanywbb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyWBB