CALDWELL, N.J.- Caldwell University women's basketball graduate Alessia Smaldone (Malnate, Italy) fell short of a triple-double in the Cougars 75-53 win over Nyack College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest.  
 
The Cougars win their second in a row to improve to 5-15 overall and 5-6 in the CACC, while the Warriors fall to 7-11 and 5-6 in conference play.
 
Caldwell got off to a hot shooting start as they opened the game with a 15-2 lead over the first five minutes of the game. Senior Tina Lebron (Manalapan, N.J.) drained a pair of three-pointers, while sophomore Paula Dits (Alicante, Spain) added a trifecta in the run. Freshman Imogen Cook (North Berwick, Scotland) netted four points and capped the run at the 5:33 mark of the opening quarter.
 
Nyack battled back to close the gap to five points at 25-20 early in the second quarter. The Cougars scored eight points in a row as freshman Rebecca Morrison (Ayrshire, Scotland) netted six points in the rally. Caldwell pushed ahead as they held a 41-30 lead at halftime.
 
The Cougars pulled away in the third quarter as they outscored Nyack 20-10 to maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
 
Dits led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Smaldone tallied six points, 10 assists, 11 rebounds and two steals. Morrison totaled 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks, while Cook netted 12 points. Lebron finished with 11 points and three boards, while freshman Halle Brown (Downingtown, Pa.) posted seven points, six assists and three steals.
 
The Cougars host Thomas Jefferson University for a CACC contest on Saturday, February 1 at 1:00 pm.