BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team played host to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent and reining conference champions the University of New England on Saturday afternoon to kick off the New Year. Despite double digits from juniors Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) and Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) Endicott fell to UNE 55-52. The Gulls move to 6-3, (2-1 CCC) while the Nor'easters stand at 7-1, (3-0 CCC).
The first half went basket for basket as each team battled for points on the board as the half ended in the Blue and Green's favor 25-24. The Gulls started off strong in the opening minutes posting 10 unanswered points. To bring the Nor'easters back into the game junior Kelly Coleman (Portland, Conn.) posted five consecutive points to make it a 9-13 game.
Whall increased the lead to five with 8:32 to go after she drained a bucket from long range. However UNE fought back as freshman Alicia Brown (Greenland, N.H.) and sophomore Sadie DiPierro (South Portland, Maine) made two unanswered jumpers to get within one point.
With six minutes remaining in the half Coleman was sent to the line where she banked her two free throws to take the 18-17 lead. The Blue and Green would not go away quietly as Wright came back with a huge jumper from down town to make it a 20-18 game in the Gulls favor. In the final minutes Whall and senior Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) made two key jumpers capped off by a free throw from sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) to take the 25-24 lead to end the first half.
The second half was similar to the first but UNE took outscored the Gulls 31-27. In the opening minutes the game was tied off a free throw from Nor'easters sophomore Lauren Hayden (Chantilly, Va.) but Wright and Cuddy each tallied a quick two points to make it a 29-25 game. After three answered baskets by UNE, Endicott turned it up with strong efforts from Wright who banked two three pointers in 45 seconds along with a two important baskets inside the arc from senior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) and sophomore Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) to make it a six point game.
With five minutes left on the clock the game became a bigger battle as each team was nailing buckets back and forth creating a tied game twice. At the three minute mark the Blue and Green led 47-45 before Dipierro tallied a jumper from long range along with two free throws to make it a three point game in the Nor'easters favor.
Despite the clutch performances at the line by Whall and Cuddy in the final seconds of the game the Gulls could not hold on as they fell to UNE by three points with a final score of 55-52.
In the second half Wright scored eight points to keep Endicott in the game while Whall tallied six. Endicott led the Nor'easters in field goal percentage tabbing a 30.6% mark while they struggled for the first time this season at the free throw line shooting 52.9%.
Throughout the contest the lead changed 17 times while it posted eight ties. Endicott's Coach Hutchinson used her bench wisely and showed her depth as they came up with an impressive 26 points to the Nor'easters five.
Endicott will pick back up on Tuesday, January 7th when they host Salve Regina at 5:30 p.m. UNE will also take the court on Tuesday for a CCC matchup against Wentworth at 5:30 p.m.
