BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott women's basketball team had won five straight games at home heading into Saturday afternoon, but found Western New England University's squad too much for them and fell 60-47 in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup.
Emily Savino (Ellington, Conn.) led all players with 26 points for the visitors, who led comfortably for much of the contest by finding their shooting touch early and often in the first half.
Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.), Endicott's leading scorer, found herself double-teamed for much of the afternoon, but still managed to pour in 18 points. Crough also blocked two shots before fouling out late in the game.
The Golden Bears used an 11-2 run to break a 2-2 tie, the closest the game would be all day. Holding a 13-8 advantage, the visitors then rattled off 13 unanswered points. A steal by Savino, one of six on the day for the junior, and a jumper by Justine King (Ware, Mass.) gave WNE their largest lead of the day, an 18-point advantage at 26-8. King had three steals herself for the Golden Bears, who totaled 11 thefts as a team.
WNE shot 15-27 (55%) from the floor and hit 4-7 (57 %) three-pointers before halftime. Savino hit three of those treys and scored 15 points in the first half.
Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.), who had 12 points off the bench for Endicott, cut the lead to 13 with a layup with under 20 seconds to play before the break, but Ali Pessolano (Hampden, Mass.) knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer and the Golden Bears took a 16 point halftime advantage. Pessolano had 12 points and led WNE with 8 rebounds, while Elena Radzikowski, who fed her the ball on her three-pointer, led the visitors with 4 assists.
Western New England led by double-digits for the entire second half. A good three-pointer by Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) with just over a minute remaining got Endicott within 11, their closest deficit after the break, but Savino capped the scoring, and her impressive game, by sinking two free-throws.
The free-throws matched the number of chances at the charity stripe for Endicott, who had two free-throw attempts all game, and none until six minutes remaining in the second half.
White scored eight points and had eight rebounds, while Manning pulled down six boards to help Endicott gain a 41-35 edge on the glass.
Sarah Proper (Coxsackie, N.Y.) was the other Golden Bear in double-figures, scoring 11 points. Endicott got nine points from freshman Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) on 3-4 shooting from behind the arc. The Gulls were led in assists by senior Nicole Heffernan (Londonderry, N.H.), who dished out five.
Endicott (12-8, 9-4CCC) will try to bounce back on Monday evening when they play the make-up of a snowed out contest with Eastern Nazarene. The Lions and Gulls will tip-off at 7:30 pm.
Western New England (11-10, 10-4 CCC) returns to Springfield to play Curry on Wednesday night (7:30 pm).
