BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - Freshman guard Kirsty Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Acad.) scored a team-high 21 points in her collegiate debut as the Caldwell College women's basketball team defeated Bloomsburg University, 76-61 in the second game of the Patriot Inn-Huskies Tip-Off Classic Friday night at Bloomsburg's Nelson Field House. This is the second straight year the two teams faced each other in the season opener, with the Cougars also coming out on top last year.

The Cougars broke open a close game midway through the first half with a 12-3 run punctuated by a three from Leedham that put Caldwell ahead 28-19 at the 5:03 mark. Another Leedham three-pointer gave the Cougars their largest lead of the first half, 35-23, before Bloomsburg's Brea Lewis made a basket just before the buzzer to make the score 35-25 at the half.

After Colleen Kegerreis scored on the Huskies' first possession of the second half to cut the deficit to 35-27, freshman guard Stephanie Cadet (Elmont, NY/Elmont Memorial) answered with a three-pointer, and the Cougars never looked back. Caldwell put the game away with an 11-2 run, including back-to-back lay-ups by senior forward Melissa Freeman (Englewood, NJ/Cresskill) that gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game, 60-40 with nine minutes to play. The Cougars shot just 27 percent from the field in the second half but made up for it by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, with senior guard Phylicia Holmes (Roselle, NJ/Roselle) collecting six boards on the offensive glass in the half.

Leedham went 6-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 6-of-9 from the free throw line. She wasn't the only freshman to have an impact in her first game wearing the Scarlet, White and Gold, as Cadet finished with 15 points, five assists and four steals. Holmes ended up with a game-high 12 rebounds, while junior forward Mackenzie Lynch (Wayne, NJ/DePaul Catholic), pictured, recorded 16 points and seven rebounds in the win. Kegerreis paced the Huskies with a game-high 22 points.

The Cougars play another game at the Huskies Tip-Off Classic, facing East Stroudsburg University on Saturday, Nov. 17. The game is set to start at 1:00 p.m. The Warriors lost to the University of the Sciences, 73-70 in Friday's first game.