SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Endicott trailed by just six points early in the second half, but were held to one field goal over a seven-minute period en route to being downed 62-52 at the hands of Western New England University in an important game for Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball postseason positioning on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears (13-8, 10-4 CCC), went on a 13-3 run during that stretch and opened up a 16-point lead with five minutes remaining, then held off a run in which the Gulls (12-9, 8-6 CCC) pulled to within nine points.
Endicott junior Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) scored a team-high 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including three of seven attempts from behind the three-point line. White also had four rebounds and two blocked shots, while senior guard Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) dished out eight assists.
Western New England was led by senior captain Emily Savino (Ellington, Conn.), who scored 20 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 7 assists. Savino and Chelsea Vujs (Berlin, Conn.) combined to shoot 7-11 from behind the three-point line for the Golden Bears, who were 8-18 (44%) from downtown as a team.
Vujs, who scored 16 points in the victory and added three assists herself, hit her first four three-point attempts before missing her final effort with under two minutes left in the game.
Savino and Vujs each hit three-pointers to start the game and took away Endicott's only two leads of the contest (2-0 and 3-2). Endicott pulled back to tie the game at ten on a jumper by Sam Crough (Cohasset, Mass.), who had ten points and four assists in the game, but twice more in the half Vujs and Savino hit back-to-back triples and Western New England led by as many as ten points before the Gulls pulled back to a 31-28 deficit at the break.
Each teams shot 10-29 (34.5%) in the first half, but Western New England fired 54% in the second period, while the Gulls maintained a 36% shooting effort after halftime.
Junior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) had another efficient game for the Gulls, blocking three shots and grabbing five rebounds to go with three points in just 13 minutes off the bench.
Sophomore Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) was the final Gull in double-figures, pouring in 11 points and collecting five rebounds and one of Endicott's nine blocked shots.
WNE junior Katie Eckert (Lee, Mass.) led the Golden Bears with eight rebounds to go with seven points.
Endicott will return to the confines of MacDonald Gymnasium for a Wednesday night game against arch-rivals Gordon College. Fans are encouraged to Pack the Mack for this special SAAC sponsored game, which will tip-off at 5:30 pm.
The Golden Bears will head to Milton, Mass. Wednesday night for a 5:30 date with Curry College.
