Junior forward Dora Enright (Longmont, Colo.) led the way for Stevens with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman forward Brittany Fuller (East Rockaway, N.Y.) finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in her collegiate debut. Sophomore guard Dani Dudek (Rockaway, N.J.) had a solid all-around game with 12 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Junior guard Jean Matusiak (Queens, N.Y.) posted seven points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Freshman guard/forward Sarah Gehring (Spokane, Wash.) contributed nine points and four rebounds off the bench.
For Connecticut (0-1), junior guard Kate Kenly (Boxford, Mass.) registered 13 points. Junior forward Katy Serafin (Carmel, N.Y.) added nine points and 11 rebounds.
Stevens, which never trailed in the contest, wasted little time jumping out to a comfortable lead as the Ducks opened an 8-0 cushion in the first three minutes of the game. Fuller got things going with a three-point play. Following a lay-up by Enright, Fuller canned a three-pointer for the Ducks. Stevens extended its lead to 14-3 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half when Matusiak knocked down a jumper.
Trailing 17-7, the Camels mounted a comeback as they ran off an 11-2 spurt in the span of 4:35 to get to within 19-18 with 5:44 left in the period. Freshman forward/center Laura Coderre (Monson, Mass.) had six points in the run for Connecticut.
Leading 21-20 late in the first half, Stevens scored nine of the final 10 points of the period to take a 30-21 lead into the locker room. Matusiak scored four of the Ducks’ nine points over the last 3:22 of the stanza.
The Camels would not go away in the second half as they turned an eight-point deficit into a two-point game with a 7-1 run in the span of 1:46. Kenly drained a three-pointer and knocked down two free throws to bring Connecticut to within 40-38 with 13:34 remaining.
Stevens answered right back as junior forward/center Rebecca Baldyga (Voorhees, N.J.) and Dudek made a pair of field goals to open a seven-point cushion. Connecticut closed to within three points on two more occasions (44-41 and 46-43) late in the game, but the Ducks always seemed to have an answer. In the end, Stevens maintained at least a five-point lead over the final four minutes of the game. The Ducks allowed the Camels to stick around though as they only converted on four of nine free throws in the closing 90 seconds.
For the game, Stevens held Connecticut to 35.1 percent (20-for-57) shooting from the floor. The Ducks also forced 26 turnovers by the Camels. Stevens only shot 30.0 percent (21-for-70) from the field.