Box Score
BLOOMFIELD, N.J. - The pre-season 21st ranked Bloomfield College Bears women's basketball team started their 2014-15 campaign with a 74-55 home opener victory over the Golden Lions of Dowling College on Saturday afternoon. The Bears created 28 turnovers to kickoff the season at 1-0 led by sophomore guard Tianna Smith (Nanuet, N.Y.) who picked up 4 steals on the afternoon. Dowling (0-1) shot just 32.8% from the field in the season opening setback.

Bloomfield opened the game with a 13-3 run capped off by a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Morgan Taylor (Paterson, N.J.) and a jumper by junior Iman Williams (Chesapeake, Va.) to put the Golden Lions on their heels. Dowling responded with six unanswered points but the Bears quickly regained control with a steal and fast break layup by junior Ariel Wilson (Chesapeake, Va.) that re-cemented the lead at ten (19-9). The Bloomfield advantage ballooned to twenty-one (45-24) heading into the break on freshman Alexia' Tucker's (Halifax, Va.) second 3-pointer of the half. The Bears were on target, shooting 59.4% from the field while limiting Dowling to just 9 field goals made in the opening stanza.

Bloomfield, a nationally ranked defense last year, began the second half with a Smith steal and enjoyed a twenty-two point lead (49-27) after a Tierra Scott (Bear, D.E.) baseline jumper off a feed from Taylor. The Golden Lions gnawed away at the deficit and got to within thirteen (59-46) on a 3-pointer by Nicole Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.) before the Bears defense forced six turnovers across five minutes and put the game out of reach at 71-48.

Caggiano would end the game with 12 points for Dowling in the loss and teammate Christine Verrelle (Abington, P.A.) led all scorers with a game-high 20 points. Sophomore center, Jillian Gillman (Weare, N.H.) pulled down a team-high 10 boards to go along with 9 points on the afternoon.

The Bears saw four players put up double-digit scoring numbers led by Scott who finished with a team-high 14 points and 6 rebounds. Smith added 12 points to go along with her 4 steals while Taylor and Tucker both contributed 11 points each. Williams snagged a team-high 10 boards and threw in 6 points for Bloomfield during the victory.

The Bears next challenge comes Wednesday, November 19th when they travel to take on the Pioneers of LIU Post. The Pioneers ranked 22nd, just behind Bloomfield in the pre-season polls, will look to avenge a 5 point defeat last season against the Bears. Game time is set for 5:00 pm in Brookville, N.Y.