Posted: Feb 09, 2010
BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Endicott College women’s basketball team had their season-high seven game winning-streak snapped at the hands of the University of New England, 61-58, on Tuesday night in a battle between the top two women’s teams in the TCCC. The Gulls fall to 15-6 overall and 8-2 in conference games while the Nor’Easters improve to 18-4 and 9-1 in TCCC games and take over sole possession of first place in the league with the win.
UNE led nearly start-to-finish, only falling behind for a total of 1:11 the entire game. Early on, the cushion peaked at nine on three occasions during the middle portion of the first half, before a late 12-2 run by the Gulls gave the visitors a 25-24 advantage with 2:34 to go before intermission. Five quick points from Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) shifted the lead back to the Nor'easters, who went into the break ahead, 29-26.
Endicott opened the second half with back-to-back buckets to gain the edge momentarily, only to see UNE reel off the next 10 points and grab a 39-30 lead with 15:26 remaining in regulation. The Nor'easters still led 45-38 with 11:22 to play, when four points apiece from \#Ceciley Chisholm\# (Lexington, Mass.) and \#Jen McBrien\# (Medfield, Mass.) sparked an 8-0 run that put the Gulls on top by one (46-45) with eight minutes on the clock. Paradis once again stopped the momentum swing with her third trey of the game, and UNE would not trail again.
Senior center \#Ceciley Chisholm\# scored a team-high 19 points and added three steals to lead Endicott. Junior \#Brittany Kelleher\# (Wakefield, Mass.) came off the bench to register a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards.
Sophomores Kelley Paradis and Margo Russell (Madison, Maine) combined for 24 second-half points to lead the University of New England past Endicott. Paradis scored 13 after halftime to finish with a game-high 20 points while Russell ended with 18 points, including going 14-for-17 from the charity stripe, and seven rebounds. All 11 of her points in the final stanza came on free throws.
With their fourth win in-a-row, the Nor'easters move to 9-1 in conference play and sit alone in first place with three games left on the schedule. It was just the second victory for UNE in their last 11 meetings with Endicott.
Endicott looks to rebound from its first loss since January 16th when the Gulls host Salve Regina at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The University of New England will take on Colby-Sawyer on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Biddeford, Maine.
Release courtesy of the University of New England Sports Information
