BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott and University of New England women's basketball teams met Thursday night at MacDonald Gymnasium in a battle for first place in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). Despite Endicott holding a lead for much of the second half, it was UNE that emerged with a 63-60 victory to keep them at the top of the conference standings.
Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) led three players in double-figures for Endicott with 15 points and had five blocks in the game, but for the second consecutive contest, two opposing players registered double-doubles against the Gulls.
Endicott nursed that lead and built it to a game-high eight points, capped by a three-pointer by Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) and a jumper by Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) at 2:04.
That was the last time that Endicott would find the basket, however, as the final two minutes of play belonged to the Nor'easters, especially Coleman, who scored 7 of the last eleven points of the game, getting the Nor'easters run started with a three that was soon matched by teammate Liz LeBlanc (Jay, Maine), who had 11 points off the bench for UNE.
Crough was the final Gull in double-figures, scoring 13 points and leading all players with three steals. Lauren Hayden (Chantilly, Va.) scored 11 points and grabbed eight boards, while leading UNE with two thefts of her own.
The Nor'easters methodically took a 13-6 lead to start the game, but Endicott, helped by three-pointers by Whall, White and Ashley Walenta (Plainfield, Conn.), who scored 9 points and dished out four assists in the game, used a 12-2 surge to take their first lead of the game at 16-15.
UNE was helped by perfect shooting from the free-throw line ,where they went 7-7 in the first half, but the Gulls shot 11-26 (42%) from the field to just 24% by the visitors before the intermission.
Sadie DiPierro (South Portland, Maine) was 2-4 from behind the three-point line in the first half for UNE and finished with eight points, after going 0-6 from downtown after halftime.
Senior guard Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) also dished out four assists for the Gulls and had one of Endicott's seven blocked shots.
The game was a sandwich home contest stuck between two three-game road trips for Endicott. They will begin their second trip on Saturday when they travel to Eastern Nazarene for a 1:00 pm affair.
The Nor'easters will be back at home at the same time, welcoming in the Golden Bears of Western New England University.
