BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team clinched the #3 seed in the upcoming Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) tournament this evening in their victory 73-49 victory over Wentworth. Tonight Endicott celebrated their five seniors whom all tallied points on the night led by senior Samantha Crough who earned 14. The Gulls improve to 18-6, (13-4 CCC) while the Leopards fall to 7-16, (4-13 CCC).
The first half was a battle between both sides as they fought for points on the scoreboard. Sophomore Nicole Catizone came in off the bench for the Blue and Green and tallied 11 points to help give the Gulls an edge entering halftime. Both sides shot well with an impressive 3-3 from long range for WIT while the Gulls shot 39.4% from the field.
In the opening minutes the Leopards and Endicott were battling back and forth answering each other's baskets. At 14:52 sophomore Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) gave Wentworth their first lead of the night after hitting back to back layups. Catizone answered back two minutes later from long range to take back the lead. After a few good free throws from the Gulls sophomore Megan McLaughlin (Southington, Conn.) took the Leopards last lead of the contest at the 9:59 mark with a deep trey.
In the final eight minutes of the first half the Blue and Green were on fire outscoring Wentworth 26-17 with huge points from Catizone who nailed nine along with strong efforts from Crough, junior Kayleekn Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) and sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.). In the final two minutes Whall and Catizone hit two back to back jumpers from downtown to take a 37-29 edge to end the first half.
The second half was controlled by the Gulls as they outscored the Leopards by 16 points led by sophomore McKenzie Farguharson (West Haven, Conn.) who tallied eight points coming in strong off the bench. Defensively Endicott worked hard holding Wentworth to shooting 29.6% from the field to their 50%.
Senior Shannon Quinn (Exeter, N.H.) started the scoring for the Blue and Green by opening up the half with a pair of jumpers, one being from long range to take an early 11 point lead. Sophomore Racheal Camara (Fall River, Mass.) came right back with a trey to cut the lead to 10 at the 17:31 mark. For the next seven minutes the game was a constant battle on the scoreboard as both sides were putting up crucial points. Finally with four minutes remaining in the game Endicott took control and went on an 11 points run while holding Wentworth to one final shot in the final seconds to take the 73-49 victory.
Overall both sides were matched well in numbers from the field but Endicott's bench really came up big by outscoring the Leopard's 42-2. The Gulls struggled from the free throw line shooting 55.6% while Wentworth took advantage of their time at the charity mark going 5-9. The Blue and Green really took control in the second half defensively as they picked up a total of 20 points off turnovers, six being fast break points.
Endicott will take the court next on Saturday, February 22nd when they travel to Western New England at 1:00 p.m. to play their last regular season game before the CCC Tournament. Wentworth will also end their regular season on Saturday as they host Nichols. The CCC Tournament will begin on Tuesday, February 25th where the Gulls will look to host the #6 seed.
