Second half defense pushes women to fourth straight
Beverly, Mass. – The Endicott women’s basketball team held visiting Western New England to one field goal over an eight-minute stretch midway through the second half to break open a close game and pull of a 66-55 victory in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) action inside MacDonald Gymnasium. Ashley Vitale (Wilmington, Mass.) and Ashley Wright (Merrimack, N.H.) combined for 43 points in the win, the fourth straight for the Gulls. Vitale added 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
Endicott improves to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference, its best start since the TCCC 2007-08 season. Western New England falls to 9-5 overall (1-2 TCCC).
The game appeared to be headed for another tight finish, indicative of the previous two meetings between a pair of conference rivals. WNEC took last season’s regular season matchup, 97-91, in double-overtime before Endicott bounced the Golden Bears from the TCCC tournament with a 59-57 win in the quarterfinals.
The two teams were deadlocked at 28 at halftime before a strong second half by the Blue and Green propelled the hosts to the double-digit win. After being held in check for much of the first stanza, Wright exploded for 16 second-half points including a pair from beyond the arc. The senior guard finished with 25 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe, one game after netting her 1,000th career point.
Vitale scored the first six points for the Gulls, who opened an early 6-2 lead in the first three minutes of play.
Western New England took its first lead of the game on a free throw by Kelly McCormick (Manchester, Conn.) at 12:39. McCormick finished with four points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The lead would change five more times in the half before Sarah Proper’s (Coxsackie, N.Y.) free throw with 37 seconds remaining knotted the score for the eighth time in the opening period.
The two sides traded buckets in the opening minutes of the second half as neither team was able to mount any sort of run.
With 15:59 remaining, McCormick converted a conventional three-point play to give the visitors a 36-34 advantage. Wright countered with an 8-0 by herself, drilling two 3-pointers and a pair from the free throw line to give the Gulls a 42-36 lead.
Jen McBrien’s (Medfield, Mass.) layup with just under 12 minutes to play helped Endicott stretch its’ lead to nine (48-39). The Golden Bears responded with a 6-0 run over the next minute and a half to pull within three.
Endicott would put the game out of reach by holding WNEC to just one field goal over the next 8:24. The Gulls led by as many as 15 before finishing with the 11 point win.
Leading scorer Emily Savino (Ellington, Conn.) paced the Golden Bears offensively with 21 points.
Senior forward Brittany Kelleher (Wakefield, Mass.) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the Gulls.
Endicott looks to remain perfect in conference play when it travels to Paxton, Mass. to take on Anna Maria on Wednesday (Jan. 19) at 8:00 pm. Western New England returns home to host Wentworth on Wednesday evening at 5:30.