BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team defeated Western New England (WNE), 61-58, on Thursday night in conference action at MacDonald Gymnasium.
Emily St. Thomas (Sterling, Mass.) paced all scorers with a career-high/game-high 20 points, alongside three rebounds, and three assists.
Tara Laugeni (Woodbridge, Conn.) and Sarah Dempsey (Windham, N.H.), also broke double-digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Gulls flew out to an early 12-1 lead in the first quarter fueled by buckets from St. Thomas, Laugeni, and Morgan Bresnahan (Wilmington, Mass.).
Endicott controlled the majority of the game until the fourth quarter when the Golden Bears registered a 16-2 run to tie the game at 54-all with 3:44 remaining in regulation.
From there, Lexi Gellerman (West Hartford, Conn.) stepped in front of a WNE pass and scored a crucial fast-break layup at the 2:59 minute mark to end the Gulls' scoring drought (56-54).
Gellerman followed up the key basket with a free throw at 2:20 before Dempsey and Duncan combined for four points down the stretch to come away with the clutch victory.
BEYOND THE BOX
- Endicott is 18-11 in the all-time series against Western New England.
- The Gulls held a lead for 37:04 over the Golden Bears.
- Ariana Silvia (Falmouth, Mass.) and Gellerman contributed with a combined 15 points (7-8) off Endicott's bench.
- The Blue and Green led by as many as 18 points throughout the game (1st quarter, 3-seconds remaining).
- The matchup only featured two ties and two lead changes.
- Endicott held WNE to its second-lowest field goal percentage this season (.292).
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (11-7, 8-3 CCC) travels to Western New England (6-11, 4-6 CCC) on Wednesday, February 2nd at 5:30 PM.
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(Photo Credit - Chris Lyons '22)
