NEWARK, NJ.- Bucks Women's basketball continues to show signs of growth in their development. For the first time this season, the Lady Centurions scored the first basket of the game, and for the second time this season, had a lead.

Unfortunately, the Lady Centurions shooting struggles continued, and Essex County College went on a 12-0 run to end the first quarter, with a 12-2 lead.

"It felt good to open up a game with a lead," said Head Coach Andre Bright. "The last four or five games, we had some good shots to start, but they just didn't fall. Today it fell."

The second quarter was plagued with turnovers, as the Lady Centurions struggled with passing and maintaining control of passes. "Our last few practices we worked on catching the ball on certain spots on the floor," Coach Bright said. "What's been a problem is the types of passes we make in games, and that's what we'll be trying to clean up the rest of the season."

Another sign of growth in the development of the women's basketball program came in the third quarter. Trailing 30-9 after halftime, the Lady Centurions opened the quarter scoring six unanswered points on three straight shots. "That stretch to open the third quarter was probably the best period of time on offense for us," said Coach Bright. "We made a small change to our offensive set, and we were able to take advantage of what Essex was doing defensively."

In addition to that run to open the third quarter, for the fifth time this season, the Lady Centurions outscored their opponents in a quarter. Three of those were in the third quarter, and, the most encouraging stat of all, in the last six games, at least five Lady Centurions have scored.

Once again, freshman Korin Bradley (Levittown, PA/Neshaminy) led all scorers with a 14 points on 6-14 shooting from the floor, both season highs for her, and freshman Alena Kusnerick (Levittown, PA/Neshaminy), ranked 7^th in the country in blocks per game with 3.2, added three blocks.

Next up for the Lady Centurions is a home contest against Manor College on Tuesday, January 22^nd at 5:00 PM.