Gulls Soar Over MCLA In Season Opener

KEENE, N.H. – The Endicott women's basketball team got their 2013-14 season started on Friday night as they traveled to Keene State for a tip-off tournament where they faced MCLA. Junior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) led the Blue and Green in scoring with 19 points in the 80-57 victory. The Gulls start their season at 1-0, while the Trailblazers fall to 0-1.

Whall, who spent the most time on the floor, led all scorers with 19, followed by three assists, and three rebounds. Following Whall, senior Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) tallied 15 points while leading the team in rebounds with seven.

In the opening seven minutes of the contest the Trailblazers were working the Gulls hard as both teams battled for points as they went back and forth, having a lead of no more than two points. After being held scoreless for about five minutes Coach Hutchinson called a time out that fired up the Blue and Green as they took control of the game from there and never looked back.

Endicott would hold the lead of the entire game from the 11^th minute after sophomore Nicole Catizone made two big shots from the three-point line back to back. The Gulls worked hard on the boards as they dominated defense rebounds by a 14-6 margin.

On the free throw line the Blue and Green scored 85.7%, compared to their opponents who were just 4-10 on the first half alone. From field goal range Endicott dominated MCLA as they shot 64.3% to their 25.8%, White was a force as she 5-6 from the field as the Gulls took a 47-20 points lead to enter halftime.

The second half showed a stronger MCLA squad as they outshot the Blue and Green 37-33, and beat them off the boards 26-18 but only managed to hit one shot from downtown. The lead from the first half was enough as the Gulls were able to throw in a wide mix of players off the bench to close out the half.

Three different Gulls recorded three rebounds, while senior Shannon Quinn (Exeter, N.H.) led Endicott in scoring in the frame with nine points. In the 13^th minute senior point guard Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) made two free throws and a three-pointer to give the Blue and Green a spark that resulted in two more unanswered buckets from Whall and senior Sam Crough (Cohasset, Mass.).

From the three-point line the Gulls shot for 45.5% while struggling inside the arch only making 12 of their 32 tries. The struggles would not be enough to throw off the Gulls as they came out with a 23 point margin victory. Overall Endicott shot 50% from inside the arch and 55.6% from downtown. They dominated the free throw line making 10 of their 12 trips to the line.

The Gulls now hold a spot in the Keene State Tip-Off Tournament championship match tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. against Keene State who defeated Green Mountain earlier in the day. The contest will be the first meeting between the two squads since 2010, where the Owls edged the Gulls in overtime 64-59.