BEVERLY, Mass. – Sophomore guard Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) registered her first career double-double as the Endicott women's basketball team used a strong third quarter to put away visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology, 58-44, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Tuesday night inside MacDonald Gymnasium.
Coppola notched 10 points and a career-high 11 assists as the Gulls opened the game with a 4-0 lead. Wentworth then took a 7-6 edge and the teams traded leads until Endicott secured a 16-10 advantage after holding the Leopards scoreless for the last three minutes of the first quarter.
Endicott went into the locker room at halftime, up 25-20, as sophomore forward Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) paced the team with six of her 13 points in the first half, while Wentworth's senior guard Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) led the floor with eight points in the first twenty minutes.
The Gulls put their foot on the gas with a 6-0 run to open the third quarter and created some breathing room thanks in part to six points apiece from senior guard Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) and sophomore guard Hannah Kiernan (Wenham, Mass.) in a 22-point third quarter for Endicott.
Endicott headed into the fourth quarter with a 47-31 edge and built an 18-point margin at the 8:17 mark for their largest lead of the game on senior forward Caity Lowry's (Quincy, Mass.) jumper.
Sophomore guard Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) made it just a ten-point deficit for Wentworth with 4:50 remaining with a jumper of her own, but Endicott got seven points from Shaw down the stretch to close out the game.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Coppola's 11 assists were one shy of the all-time program record for assists in a single game (12), held by Jen McBrien on Nov. 28, 2012 against Salve Regina.
- Senior forward Sarah Hood (Burlington, Mass.) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds (game-high five offensive) as Endicott won the battle of the glass with 38 rebounds to the Leopards' 26.
- Endicott shot a team-high 58.8 percent in the third quarter.
FOR THE FOES
- Camara had a game-high 16 points on 4-of-16 from the field, including 2-of-7 from three-point land and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Camara also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
- Sabino also was in double digits with 11 points and six rebounds, four assists and one steal.
- Senior forward Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) chipped in eight points to go with five rebounds and two assists.
- The Leopards have lost eight in a row.
- Roger and Camara became the 11th and 12th student-athletes in Wentworth women's basketball history to reach the 1,000 career point milestone tonight.
NOTES
- Endicott is 24-3 all-time and 13-2 at home versus Wentworth dating back prior to the 2002 season.
- The Gulls won the most recent meeting before today, 55-45, in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 14, 2016.
- Endicott has won five of the past six head-to-head matchups.
WHAT'S NEXT
Both teams are back in action on Saturday, February 20 as the Gulls (15-9, 13-4 CCC) host Western New England University on Senior Day at 3:00 p.m., while Wentworth (6-18, 2-15 CCC) welcomes Roger Williams University on Alumni Day at 1:00 p.m. in the final game of the regular season. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.