SALEM, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team traveled to North Shore rival, Salem State on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference matchup. The Gulls opened up the game with a 12 point run and never looked back as they soared to an 89-58 victory. Endicott improves to 5-4 (1-2 CCC) heading into the New Year while the Vikings fall to 2-6 (1-2 MASCAC).
Endicott will take the court next in the New Year on Saturday, January 3rd as they host regional foe, Brandeis at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings will play next on December 29th and 30th when they travel to California for the Whittier College Holiday Classic.
Overall the Blue and Green were led by junior Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) who tallied her second straight game with a career high 23 points while freshman Sam Charette (Wenham, Mass.) followed with 16 points and six rebounds. Endicott was strong from the field shooting an impressive 47% and 48% from long-range with huge efforts by Catizone who nailed 18 total points alone from outside the arc.
The Blue and Green played their second straight hard fought defensive game crashing the boards with 50 rebounds to the Vikings 43 while scoring 21 second chance points. The Gulls racked up 12 steals in the game, led by freshman Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) who earned three which led to the 20 Endicott points off turnovers.
Endicott held the lead the entire time which led Head Coach Brittany Hutchinson to play every single player on her roster. As a whole, the bench summed up an impressive 32 points led by sophomore Lauren Iadarola (Tyngsboro, Mass.) who tallied seven.
The first half was controlled by the Blue and Green as they opened up the game with 12 unanswered points which was led by two straight treys and a free throw from Catizone in just over a one minute span. Shaw led the half in rebounds with six while freshman Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) tallied two steals.
The Gulls held the Vikings to shooting 24% from the field while they capitalized on offensive opportunities by shooting 45% capped off by 50% from both long-range and the charity mark. By the end of the first half Endicott pushed a strong lead at 44-21.
The second half showed a stronger Vikings squad as Endicott just outscored their opponent by eight. Despite the better play by Salem State the Blue and Green continued to play a stealthy offensive shooting 50% from the field and scoring 5-of-11 from three-point range. The Vikings played a strong offensive game as well almost doubling their field percentage and taking advantage of their trips to the free throw line shooting 80%.
Endicott was able to hold on to the lead for the entire second half which led the Gulls to not be down by a single point the entire contest to give Endicott the 89-58 final victory.