BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team played host to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Eastern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) recorded a career single game high 19 points while junior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) recorded 17 points and seven rebounds in the 74-66 victory. The Gulls move to 5-1, (2-0 CCC) while the Lions fall to 3-4, (0-2 CCC).
The first half was a battle between both sides but the Blue and Green marked their best half yet as they shot 48.3% from inside the arc while draining 15-19 from the free throw line. The contest started with big baskets from both sides before the Gulls were able to pull away a bit after some hard work on both sides of the court from senior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.). At 16:12 Endicott started a small scoring spree as they put up eight unanswered points making it a 14-7 score.
Minutes later sophomore Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) and junior Michelle Herrera (Santa Barbra, Calif.) ended the streak but Endicott kept pushing offensively by making two big three-pointers in 30 seconds and making an effort to get to the free throw line. Just as the Gulls started to pull away the Lions went to the basket hard with strong efforts from leading scorer, junior Ruby Leon (Fairfield, Conn.) and Herrera who each came out with 11 points, 13 being in the final five minutes of play as a pair.
With their efforts Eastern Nazarene was able to close the gap to seven as the Gulls entered halftime on top at 41-34.
The Gulls picked up right where they left off from the first half and kept attacking the basket as they shot 33.3% from the field and 91.7% from the free throw line. However the Lions were right behind them making some big plays inside the arcshooting 13-34 as they were just outscored by one point by the Blue and Green in the frame.
Cuddy started the second half with three straight buckets resulting in seven points but ENC answered back by taking control for four minutes recording 12 unanswered points in their favor to make it a two point game. The run lit a spark within the Gulls as they took back control with efforts from senior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) and sophomore Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.).
In the final nine minutes of play Whall came up big getting nine points on the board while she and Manning crashed the boards hard to keep possession. Despite efforts from the Lions in the final five minutes they could not creep back up as Endicott came out with the victory.
Overall the Blue and Green worked hard making 41 rebounds as a whole led but Crough (8) and Whall (7). Senior Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) and Cuddy each dished out four assists in the win. As a team the Gulls were able to score 14 second chance points while they managed to score 17 points off the 17 ENC turnovers.
Endicott will look ahead to Tuesday, December 10th when they travel to Emmanuel (Mass.) for a non-conference matchup set to start at 5:30 p.m. The contest will be the last before the Holiday break. Eastern Nazarene will also tip off on Tuesday in an out of conference matchup against Lasell at 6:00 p.m.
