Eastern's Women's Basketball Capt.,​ Taylor Salato Steals Spotlight

From Eastern CT State University:

WILLIMANTIC, CT — The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team's senior captain Taylor Salato of East Haven, stole the spotlight Saturday by becoming the 21st player in program history to reach 1,000 points, the six-footer also owned the stat sheet by scoring 13 of the team’s first 15 points and more than half of the team’s final point total in Eastern Connecticut State University’s 62-58 non-conference women’s basketball loss to Wheaton College Saturday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Salato, the only Eastern player to score from the field through the first 14 minutes, totaled at least 30 points for the fifth time in her career, finishing one shy of her career-high and two behind the program’s game record with 34 points, coming off the floor only once.

The All-Little East Conference forward amassed nearly 60 percent of the team’s point total. She was 12-of-21 from the floor and grabbed six rebounds, blocked two shots and stole two balls. The program’s all-time leader in free throw percentage, Salato was 10-of-11 from the stripe.

After losing by 30 a year ago to a Wheaton (4-9) team which won only 40 percent of its games, Eastern (4-9) trailed by 11 at the half and by 14 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but battled back into contention in the fourth quarter.

Salato, who needed 14 points to become 31st-year head coach Denise Bierly’s 14th 1,000-point scorer, entering the day scored 13 of Eastern’s first 15 points through the first 12 minutes, moving to within one of 1,000 on a pair of free throws early in the second quarter. In an effort to reach the milestone, Salato failed on her next four shots from the floor before taking a pass from Cassesse and swishing a short jumper with 30 seconds left in the half.

Eastern plays the first of 12 straight Little East Conference games to end the regular season Tuesday at 6 p.m. against visiting Keene State College.

Update:

Senior Taylor Salato (East Haven) of the Eastern Connecticut State University women’s basketball team, has followed up her Little East Conference Player-of-the-Week accolades on Monday be being named Player-of-the-Week by the New England Women's Basketball Association (NEWBA), announced late Tuesday evening.The six-foot senior became the 21st player in program history to score 1000 collegiate points in a 62-58 non-conference home loss to Wheaton College Saturday at Geissler Gymnasium. After scoring 13 of the team's first 15 points of the game, Salato's open jump shot from the left side with 34 seconds left in the first half gave her 1000 and 1001 career points. Salato finished with her fifth career game of at least 30 points, totalling 34 – one shy of her career high and two shy of the game record. She was 12-of-21 from the floor with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 39 minutes. The program's career leader in free throw percentage, Salato scored ten of her points on 11 free throw attempts.Her points pushed her into the Little East Conference scoring lead (20.7 pp.g) and were the second-most points in a game by a player in the LEC. Her free throws kept her ranked fourth (82.1). She also ranks third in rebounding (8.9) in the conference.