Box Score
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – A monumental scoring run of 18 points over the final four minutes of the first half allowed the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team to erase a 14-point deficit 16 minutes into play, but it ultimately wasn't enough to prevent the team's fifth straight season-opening loss, 79-74, at the hands of Bridgewater State University in the opening round of the BSU Cave Classic Friday night at the Adrian Tinsley Center.
 
Leading by four points at halftime, Eastern (0-5) led by as many as seven twice in the third quarter and never trailed in the frame, but never could pull away as Bridgewater (3-1) tied the game at 61-61 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter and opened the fourth with two buckets inside the first minutes to take the lead for good as the Bears managed to defeat the Warriors for only the second time in the last 12 meetings between the programs. The point total was Eastern's highest since scoring 78 in a season-opening five -point loss at Lasell University.
 
In Saturday's noon consolation game, the Warriors will meet the University of New England (2-2), which was beaten by Emerson College (4-1) in Friday's second first-round game. Bridgewater will play Emerson in Saturday's 2 p.m. final. The Warriors and Nor'easters have met only twice, splitting games in back-to-back years beginning in 2008/09.
 
After the Bears scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, Eastern got back to within a point with six minutes left on a jumper by first-year guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford) off a steal from senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven). But freshman forward Bridgitt O'Sullivan-Van Etten scored off her offensive rebound and a pair of free throws from senior forward Kyle Grassi made it a five-point BSU lead with five minutes left.
 
Grassi scored 14 of Bridgewater's 28 points in the first quarter (six coming on three-pointers and four from the stripe), but was limited to just two points when the Warriors outscored the Bears, 28-13 in the second quarter to assume a four-point, 45-41 lead at the break.
 
Trailing by 14 (41-27) in the second quarter, Eastern shut out the hosts over the final four minutes, amassing 18 unanswered points. Salato  and Cassesse  each had six points in that scoring run, with Cassesse also grabbing two rebounds to set up inside buckets by Salato. Cassesse pulled Eastern even at 41-all with a three-pointer off a BSU turnover with just inside two minutes left in the quarter, and Salato scored underneath off her own steal to give the Warriors their first lead, 43-41 with 66 seconds left in the period. Following a Bridgewater missed shot, Salato put back another Bridgewater miss with three seconds left that gave Eastern its four-point, 45-41, halftime lead.
 
In the second quarter, Salato had 12 of her 16 first-half points and Cassesse eight of her 12 first-half points. The pair combined to shoot 11-of-18 from the floor in the first half, with sophomore forward Marissa Nudd (Colchester) contributing five points, four rebounds and two assists over the first 20 minutes. Salato's third rebound of the game with 4:36 left in the first quarter gave her 500 boards in her four-year career.
 
Salato (season-high 24), Cassesse (career-high 18) and Nudd (10) combined for 52 of the team's point total, with senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) equalling her career high with nine points. Salato led both teams with 11 rebounds, with sophomore guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) handing out five assists.
 
Grassi, her team's scoring leader at 18.0 ppg., totalled 31 points (10-of-13 FT) and pulled down five rebounds.  Graduate guard Kylee Piche had 15 points (7-of-9 FG) and five assists for Bridgewater and senior forward Jordan Peebles added nine points and a team-high six rebounds.