West Haven, Conn. (1/4/23) The Dominican University New York women's basketball team rallied from a double-digit first quarter deficit to win a thrilling 87-84 double overtime victory tonight in non-conference action played in Charger Gymnasium.

Winning the battle of the Chargers lifts Dominican's overall record to 9-6 on the season, while their counterparts fall to 6-5 on the year.

New Haven opened the game outscoring the Lady Chargers, 13-3, and used a trey to increase the lead to 19-6 at the end of the first quarter.  UNH shot 57.1% (8-14) in the quarter, compared to Dominican's 13.3% (2-15).

UNH took their biggest lead of the game on a three-point bucket with 4:28 left in the second quarter to push the advantage to 36-17.  Dominican charged back into the contest by going on a 14-0 closing quarter run to cut the lead to 36-31 at the break.  The Lady Charger offense came alive in the second period as they shot 55.6% (10-18).

Dominican trailed 49-45 with a minute and a half left in the third quarter, but a quarter ending trey from Alexis Suarez (Poughquag, N.Y.) cut the deficit to a single point, 49-48, heading into the final quarter.

A five point spurt by the Lady Chargers put them in front 68-65 with 1:39 left in regulation, but a buzzer-beating three by UNH forced the game into overtime.  Tanasha Mills (New City, N.Y.) scored six points in the quarter while Suarez added five points.

In the first overtime, UNH pulled ahead 77-73 with a little over a minute left but Dominican's Kristen Teklits (New Fairfield, Conn.) hit two crucial free throws and Mills hit the game-tying jumper with 17 ticks to go to re-tie the score, 77-77.

Cayla Howard's (Naugatuck, Conn.) layup with 1:07 to go in the second overtime would put Dominican ahead 85-83, but UNH hit a free throw to pull within a point.  A Suarez layup closed out the game for the Lady Chargers and led them to the 87-84 win.

Mills finished with a team high 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.

Howard added 17 points and seven caroms, while Suarez pulled down a team best eight boards, 14 points and three assists.

Guard Teklit netted 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Chidinma Ndukauba (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came off the bench to score 12 points and six rebounds.

Dominican forced 24 UNH turnovers to score 23 points and out rebounded their foes, 40-38.

The Lady Chargers return to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Wilmington University in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) contest.