CALDWELL, N.J. - The Bears women's basketball team wrapped up their regular season with an 82-87 double overtime loss to the Cougars of Caldwell University Tuesday night on the road. The loss left both teams with 15-4 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) records, with Caldwell holding the tie-break advantage and capturing the North Division regular season crown. The teams will prepare for post season play which begins Saturday for the Bears when they host the South Division's third seed, Holy Family University at 2:00pm. 

From the start the two teams battled it out with Caldwell holding the lead for most of the first half. The Cougars jumped out to a 16-10 advantage early on in the first only to see that lead quickly disappear. Bloomfield responded with a 9-2 run capped by a three-pointer by sophomore guard, Morgan Taylor (Paterson, N.J.) to give the visitors a 19-18 lead at the 9:22 minute mark. Caldwell answered by putting together a 9-2 run of their own, capped off with a bucket from the CACC's leading scorer Emily Caswell (Wakefield, R.I.), giving the Cougars a 27-21 lead. The Bears fought back and recaptured the lead, going up 31-29 after senior center, Tierra Scott (Bear, D.E.) connected on a jumper with just under 2 minutes to play. Caldwell's Antoinette Pilla (Scarsdale, N.Y.) scored a bucket to tie the game at 31-31 as the teams headed into the break.

The second half brought a similar battle but with a bit more offense. Bloomfield clawed ahead, 47-40 after Scott converted from inside the paint to give the Bears their largest lead of the night. Caswell sparked an 8-2 run for the home squad and capped it off with a jumper that cut the lead to one (49-48) with 10:18 remaining in the second period. The Cougars continued clawing their way back and eventually took a 55-54 lead when Nicole Angelo (Mount Laurel, N.J.) drilled a shot from beyond the arc. Caldwell stretched to their largest lead (66-58) of the evening when Pilla nailed a jumper from long range with 4:02 remaining in regulation.

The Bears sliced into that deficit right away as Taylor, who had a team-high 21 points, converted on two free throws. Iman Williams (Chesapeake, Va.) grabbed a steal and turned it into two points with a layup. Williams ended her night with a career-high 20 points. Ariel Wilson (Chesapeake, N.J.) then followed up with another steal and bucket to cut the lead to 66-64. With fifty-two seconds remaining in the second frame, Wilson hit two free throws cutting the Cougar lead to just one (68-67).

Caswell converted two free throws that gave her team a 70-67 lead with six seconds left to play. The Cougars went a perfect 20-20 from the line on the night and were poised to secure the North Division regular season title in regulation. That only set the stage for Bloomfield's sophomore Tianna Smith (Nanuet, N.Y.) who with time expiring, put up a three-pointer that hit the front of the rim and took a shooter's bounce up and in to send the game into overtime.

It looked promising for the Bears in the first overtime as they found themselves up by five (79-74) with thirty-one seconds after a couple of Williams' free throws. Caldwell refused to go quietly on their own home court however and Caswell knocked down two free throws to setup her teammate for some last second heroics. Angelo buried a three-pointer to tie the game at 79-79 as the overtime buzzer sounded.

The Cougars seized control in the second overtime with their perfect free throw shooting. Caswell nailed two from the line to ice the game and ended her regular season with her twenty-first double-double of the year, netting 25 points and snagging 19 rebounds.

Bloomfield finished the 2014-15 regular season as the #2 seed in the CACC North Division and will host Holy Family University, the No. 3 seed from the South Division, in the first round of the CACC Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 28th. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in the Bloomfield College Gym.

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(story written by Mark Reyes - Sports Information Department intern)