CCC BRACKET/RELEASE | CCC ALL-CONFERENCE RELEASE
BEVERLY, Mass. – The first-seeded Endicott women's basketball team (17-8) hosts fifth-seeded Curry College (15-11) on Thursday, February 21 for a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament semifinal round game at 7 PM in MacDonald Gymnasium.
SERIES HISTORY: Endicott leads the overall series, 29-7, and the Gulls won the two regular-season matchups between the two teams by scores of 84-65 (11/28/18) and 62-52 (1/26/19). Endicott and Curry met in the quarterfinal round of the CCC Tournament in 2017-18 and the Gulls came away with a 49-32 victory during that contest.
SCOUTING ENDICOTT: The Gulls enter Thursday's game with an overall record of 17-8 and a home court record of 6-4. Endicott captured the No. 1 seed in the tournament for the first time since the 2007-08 season with a 13-3 conference mark. Endicott is led by CCC Coach of the Year Brittany Hutchinson, who is in her eighth year at the helm of the program.
CCC Player of the Year and CCC All-Conference First Team selection Emily Pratt (Gardner, Mass.) currently ranks second in the conference in points (436), field goals made (145), steals (58), and points per 40 minutes (21.1), third in points per game (17.4), fourth in free throws made (102) and three-point field goal percentage (34.6) and fifth in three-point field goals made (44). She is also five points shy of hitting the 1,000 career points mark.
Kaleigh Putnam (Wallingford, Conn.) was named to the CCC All-Conference Second team and currently ranks first in the conference in free throw percentage, third in blocks (26), seventh in assists (67), No. 11 in field goal percentage, No. 13 in points per game, No. 17 in points (272) and field goals made (92), and No. 18 in points per 40 minutes (14.6).
CCC All-Conference Third Team honoree Mikaela Rogers (Haverhill, Mass.) will also look to help the Gulls on both ends of the court as she averages 10.6 points per game (40.8 FG%, 60.0 FT%), 6.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks so far this season.
SCOUTING CURRY: The Colonels are 7-5 on the road this season and are coming off of a big 64-61 road victory over No. 4 Roger Williams on Tuesday.
Curry is led by CCC Defensive Player of the Year and CCC All-Conference First Team selection Emily Irwin (Billerica, Mass.) who leads the conference in steals per game (5.0) and assists per game (4.9) and is second in rebounds per game (8.5) and points per game (18.7).
The Colonels also will look for strong offense and defense from CCC Rookie of the Year and CCC All-Conference Second Team honoree Peyton Perine (Fairfax, Va.). She ranks fourth in the conference in points per game (15.6) and fifth in rebounds per game (7.4).
WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of Thursday's contest between No. 1 Endicott and No. 5 Curry will advance to the CCC Tournament Championship on Saturday, February 23.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(Games hosted by the higher seed)
Quarterfinals – Tuesday, Feb. 19
#2 University of New England def. #7 Gordon, 64-39
#3 Western New England def. #6 Salve Regina, 64-52
#5 Curry def. #4 Roger Williams, 64-61
Semifinals – Thursday, Feb. 21
#5 Curry at #1 Endicott, 7 p.m.
#3 Western New England at #2 University of New England, 7 p.m.
Finals – Saturday, Feb. 23
Semifinal winners at higher seed, TBD
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(Photo credit - Mike Conners)