Endicott Survives Road Scare at Gordon

WENHAM, Mass. – After what was one of their best and worst opening halves of the year, Endicott fought back to edge Gordon 45-39 and win their tenth game of the year on Tuesday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action at the Bennett Athletic Center.

The Gulls trailed 15-13 at halftime, marking their worst offensive production in a half this season but also their second best defensive half of the year.

Endicott (10-4) improves to 6-1 in the conference and will now prepare for a huge game on Thursday night when they host CCC leading University of New England at 5:30 pm.

Junior Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) was 4-8 in the second half, scoring 12 of her team-high 16 points, and Endicott erased a 7-point Scots lead, dropping Gordon to 2-13 (0-8 CCC).

The Gulls shot just 19% from the floor in the first half, but were able to hit 12-29 (41%) in the second half to help their comeback effort.

In addition to their own shooting struggles, Endicott had to deal with the play of Gordon sophomore Brooke Kratche (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and junior Lauren Kranyak (Locust Grove, Va.).

Kratche collected her fifth double-double of the season, and the seventh of her career, scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Kranyak also had a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, accomplishing the feat for the fourth time this year.

Both teams struggled to find the basket in the first half, and the game was tied at nine with 13 minutes gone before freshman Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) hit a baseline jumper and a layup to get the Gulls into double-digits.

Kranyak and Skylar Bareford (Stonington, Conn.) combined for the final six points of the half to give Gordon the edge at the break.

Kratche and Kranyak accounted for the host's first 13 points of the second half and helped Gordon open up their biggest lead of the game, a 26-19 advantage with 13:19 left to play.

White ended the Scots run with a three-pointer, then sank another triple to tie the game at 30, providing the only production from downtown, where the Gulls went 2-14, including 0-7 in the first half.

Endicott finally took their first lead of the half with under five minutes to play on a layup by Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.), who had nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds, but Kratche converted another three-point play to restore Gordon's advantage.

Whall used another layup to tie the game at 37 and Endicott took the lead for good on a fast break layup by White, created by a press and a steal by Cuddy, who, along with Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.), led the team with three thefts apiece.

Robinson, who also had four points, two rebounds, a block and three assists, converted a layup to extend the Gull's lead to four points.

Kratche also had three steals and two assists for the Scots, while Bareford led the Scots with three assists and scored seven points in a losing effort.

Sam Crough (Cohasett, Mass.) led the Gulls with four assists, to go with seven points, five rebounds, two steals and a block.

Endicott came one-point shy of their best defensive half of the year, which came against MIT, when the Gulls held the Engineers to 14 points in the second half of a come-from-behind victory.

Gordon, who drops their 11^th straight game in the all-time series against Endicott, will continue to look for their first conference win on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Nichols for a 2:00 pm contest.