BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team hosted Eastern Nazarene on Thursday evening for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup. After three Gulls scored in double figures Endicott soared to a 69-49 victory, highlighted by a game high 19 points, from senior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.). Endicott improves to 11-13 (7-10 CCC) while Eastern Nazarene falls to 11-13 (9-8 CCC).
Endicott will take the court next on Saturday, February 21st as they host CCC foe Western New England for the final regular season of 2015. The Gulls will also celebrate their three seniors: Whall, Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) and Carley Stauffer (Springfield, Vt.). Eastern Nazarene will also take the court next on Saturday as they host Gordon for the final regular season game at 1:00 p.m.
Overall Endicott boasted an impressive 45.3% mark from the field to the Lions 30.9% while shooting 88.2% from the charity stripe. Along with heavy points from Whall freshman Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) followed with 17 points and junior Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) put up 15.
The Endicott defense worked to hold down the strong shooters from Eastern Nazarene allowing just one player, sophomore Katy Teare (Frazier Park, Calif.), to score in double figures with 12. Cuddy recorded an impressive three blocks and four steals while Shaw recorded a double-double with 12 boards to go along with her 17 points. The stealthy defense helped lead the Gulls to force 15 Lions turnovers and pick up 10 points off those opportunities.
After shooting struggles the last two games, the Blue and Green put up strong numbers from long-range led by 3-of-7 from Whall. Both sides rebounded hard as Endicott took the 42-38 advantage which helped lead to the 10 second chance points for Endicott.
The first half was a shooting battle as Endicott led with 42.9% from the field, led by 12 points from Shaw and 10 from Cuddy. Endicott outscored the Lions 36-30 by the end of the half as junior Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) kept Eastern Nazarene in the game with her team high six points.
Cuddy posted some impressive ball handling statistics recording three steals and four assists and one block. Whall was quiet in the half with just four points but would pick her game up in the second to give the Gulls the strong advantage.
The second half showed a resilient group of Gulls that scored 33 points to the Lions 19, while Whall turned up the heat in the half with an impressive 15 points and five rebounds. The senior worked her way through the paint shooting 6-of-7 and going a perfect 3-of-3 from long-range.
With the help from Whall Endicott put up a 48% mark from the field, 60% from outside the arc and 75% from the charity stripe while holding Eastern Nazarene to just 8-of-34 from the field and 3-of-9 from the free throw line. The strong shooting helped give the Gulls the 69-49 victory. Overall the triumph was a team effort as every player worked hard to get the victory.
Some highlighted moments in the game came from Whall and Shaw as Shaw was down on the ground with a rebound and was able to roll the ball to Whall who drained a deep trey in the second half. Another was between the rookie combo Shaw and Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) as Shaw made the quick fake pass outside and handed the ball to Coppola for the quick layup.
