BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott got the sixth double-double of Jen White's (Lisbon, N.H.) career and a strong start to the second half, but had to hold on to defeat Curry 60-57 on Thursday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action at MacDonald Gymnasium.
White scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, the third time this season she has tallied double-digits in both categories.
With Endicott trailing by a point with nine minutes to play, White hit back-to-back three-pointers, the second of which gave the Gulls the lead for good.
Curry sophomore Jeanette Fallon (Nashua, N.H.) led all players with 20 points and was tops on the Colonels with eight rebounds.
Endicott senior guard Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) played the entire game and led all-players with 7 assists, to go with 12 points, five rebounds, four steals and a block. Endicott was very unselfish, posting assists on 20 of their 24 made field goals, with White dishing out four helpers and Samantha Crough (Cohasett, Mass.) and Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) picking up three apiece.
Crough added 15 points, ten of them in the second half, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
The visitors shot well from behind the three-point line, hitting 5-9 attempts (55.6%). Kylie Beltz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), who had 12 points in the losing effort, was a major factor, going 2-3 from downtown.
Endicott led by just two points at half but opened the second stanza on a 10-0 run to grab a 37-25 advantage.
From there, Curry mounted a comeback of their own, posting a 17-4 surge over the next eight minutes, and the game stayed within a five-point margin for the rest of the way.
Beltz dished out five-assists and had five steals in the game for Curry, while sophomore Samantha Corcoran (Hampton, N.H.) had four assists to go with nine points.
Endicott sophomore Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) had eight rebounds of her own in just nine minutes of first-half play before leaving the game with an injury.
In what has been a common theme this year, junior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) was efficient off the bench for the Gulls, scoring 10 points on 4-6 shooting and dishing out two assists in 19 minutes of playing time. Manning also defended Corcoran on the final play, forcing a short three-point attempt at the buzzer as the Colonels tried to tie the game.
The Colonels began the game by opening up a 10-2 run but Endicott answered back with eleven straight points and after that each team held a lead of just four points before the break.
Both teams shot better in the second half, with Endicott exchanging a 26% first-half performance for a 14-27 (51.9%) showing in the second.
Christina Deiorio (Stoughton, Mass.), who had seven points on 2-3 shooting, was the only reserve to find the score-sheet for the Colonels.
Endicott (14-10, 10-7 CCC) will play their final regular season game on Saturday afternoon when they welcome in Eastern Nazarene for a 1:00 pm contest. The Gulls currently sit in the fifth position in the CCC table, while Eastern Nazarene (6-11) is tied for the sixth spot.
Curry (9-15, 5-12 CCC) will return home to host Wentworth on Saturday with a spot in the CCC tournament still in grasp for the Colonels.
