CALDWELL, N.J. - Freshman Deja McKenzie (Baltimore, M.D.) lit up the court on 8-for-10 shooting from the field and netted a career-high 19 points to power the Bears to a 68-64 victory over the red hot Cougars of Caldwell University Saturday afternoon. The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) North Division showdown saw Bloomfield bounce back from their first league defeat a week ago and snap the Cougars 9-game winning streak in front of a capacity crowd at the George R. Newman Center in Caldwell.

The Bears, currently ranked 9th in the NCAA Division II East Region, improved their overall record to 21-6 and a program best, 17-1 in conference matchups while Caldwell, ranked 10th in the Region fall to 19-8 on the year and 14-4 in CACC action.

Alongside McKenzie's career performance, Bloomfield saw their leading scorer for the season record 16 points (5-15 FG, 1-4 3-FG, 5-6 FT) to go along with three assists. Senior Chyna Golden (Neptune, N.J.) pulled down a game-high 13 boards, including seven on the offensive glass and chipped in seven points. Ariel Wilson (Chesapeake, Va.) also posted seven points on the afternoon. Senior Iman Williams (Shreveport, La.) came off the bench to record 8 points on 3-for-5 shooting from the floor in 18 minutes of work.
 
The Cougars were paced by Sharell Sanders with 16 points and distributed the offensive load, as all five starts scored in double-figures during the setback.
 
Caldwell, riding their nine-game winning streak, opened up the first quarter red hot with an 8-0 blaze less than two minutes in. Unfazed by the Cougars outburst, Bloomfield responded with a 10-2 run of their own fueled by six points from McKenzie to knot the score with 4:39 to go in the opening frame. The home team settled for a 16-12 advantage by the end of the quarter and determined to send a message that their fire was not out.
 
McKenzie netted a layup midway thru the second quarter that drew the teams even once again, this time at 25-25. Smith scored the Bears final two buckets to send her team into the locker room up 33-29 as the regionally ranked Bloomfield squad vowed not to trail the rest of the way. McKenzie had scored 10 points in the first two quarters and Golden had snagged 10 boards during the same time frame.
 
Determined to cool off the Cougars, Bloomfield started the third quarter with a 9-2 run that opened their advantage to 42-31 after four minutes of play. A jumper from McKenzie closed the scoring in the frame and the visitors found themselves up 50-37 heading into the final quarter.
 
The Bears ballooned their lead to sixteen (57-41) on a bucket in the paint by Williams with 4:18 remaining in the game. Caldwell tried feverishly to get back into the game and climb all the way to within two points (66-64) but the CACC North Division regular season champs had learned their lesson from a week ago and sealed the game in regulation with six consecutive free throws down the stretch.
 
The Bears outshot Caldwell with an efficient 48.1 percent (25-52) to 37.3 percent (25-67) edge.  Bloomfield shot a higher percentage from the line 76.2 percent (16-21) to 66.7 percent (6-9) converting more free throws than the home team attempted.  The Bears still have some things to correct as Caldwell forced 23 Bloomfield mistakes and converted them into 24 points on the afternoon.
 
Next up is 'Senior Night' for the Bears as they play their final game of the regular season. A win against the visiting Warriors of Nyack College would mean the overall top seed in the CACC Tournament and the most wins in program history since joining the NCAA Division II. The program will honor their four seniors, Ariel Wilson, Iman Williams, Chyna Golden and Queen Jackson just before the 5:30 p.m. tip off at the Bloomfield College Gym.
 
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