Gulls Push Record Season-Opening Win Streak to Five Games

BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott got a career high 25 points from junior Jenifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) and held off visiting Roger Williams 66-57 at MacDonald Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon to win their program-record fifth consecutive game to start the season and to improve to 2-0 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball play.

In a game of runs, the Gulls finished the contest on a 13-0 tear to erase a 4-point deficit and hand the Hawks (1-4) their second CCC loss of the year.

Included in that stretch were eight straight made free-throw shots, four of them by White, who was a perfect 11-11 at the foul line and four from sophomore Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.), who added 14 points in the Endicott win.

Senior Alexandra Lanieri (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) led the Hawks with 18 points , while junior Kaitlyn Bovee (Berlin, Conn.), continued her scoring streak against Endicott, pitching in 17 points, exactly what she averaged in three meetings against the Gulls last season.

Endicott senior guard Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) played the entire game and filled the stat sheet with five assists, seven rebounds, three points and three steals.

The game was a back and forth affair, especially in the second half as the Gulls came out of the break and grabbed a 35-30 lead, but the Hawks were able to get in front thanks to nine straight points by Bovee and two layups by Lanieri, which made the score 45-41 Roger Williams. After more than three minutes of scoreless gridlock, the Gulls went to work, with White, Whall and Jordan Ferland (Charlestown, N.H.) leading a 10-0 run and Endicott was ahead 51-45. Ferland, a junior forward, was 8-9 from the floor and had 16 points in the game.

The Hawks hit just three attempts from behind the three-point line, but two of them came after that run and stopped the Gulls from pulling away. Ari Renwick (Westwood, Mass.), who had made one of those treys and scored 11 points for the Hawks, hit a layup with 3:26 remaining to give Roger Williams a 57-53 advantage, but those were the last points that the visitors would put on the board.

Ferland and White each made buckets and Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) picked off a pass before the parade to the foul line began, where Endicott capped an impressive day of free throw shooting (22-26, 85%) with eight consecutive makes.

Both teams shot incredibly well from the charity stripe, with the Hawks hitting twelve of their thirteen attempts (92.3%).

For the second game in a row, Endicott shot over 40 percent in the first half (46.4%) and for the game. In this game they were 22-52 from the floor (42.3%), though they went 0-7 from deep range.

Lanieri had the Hawks clicking early in the first half, scoring 14 of her points on 5-10 shooting before the break. She helped the visitors jump out to an 8-2 lead before consecutive makes by White helped Endicott tie the game at 12. The Gulls would hold several leads as big as seven points in the first half, but Lanieri's shooting, including 4-4 from the free-throw line, helped pull the Hawks to within three points, as the Gulls went to halftime with a 33-30 advantage.

This is also the second game in a row that the Gulls have bested their opponents on the glass by a single rebound, as they edged the Hawks 34-33 this afternoon. Endicott had a balanced rebounding attack, which included six boards from Ferland and eight from Crough, in addition to McBrien's seven.

White had two assists and was one of five Endicott players with a block while besting her previous career high of 20 points, set earlier this year in a win over Connecticut College. Junior captain Ashley Walenta (Plainfield, Conn.) had three assists for the Gulls.

Bovee led the Hawks on the boards with 10 rebounds. Senior guard Elizabeth Kilzi (Waverly, Pa.) dished out four assists and had two steals, while sophomore Lisa Lutz (Downers Grove Ill.) had two of the Hawk's three blocks.

The Gulls have three more games before winter break, all of them out of conference affairs. The first of which, a road game at Brandeis University, will be Thursday at 7:00 pm.

Roger Williams will be back on the court tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Colby College.