Gulls Fight Back In 79-74 Victory over Salem State, Crough Records A Career High 30 Points

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team played host to Salem State on Thursday evening for a North Shore Cup matchup. Senior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) tallied a career high 30 points in the 79-74 victory. The Gulls will leave November at 3-1, while the Vikings fall to 2-2 on the season. With the win the Blue and Green will also add a tally in the win column for Endicott in the North Shore Cup competition.

The Vikings came out of the gates firing as they led the entire first half, besides the opening 60 seconds of the contest. The Gulls kept within reach until the 11^th minute when Salem State started to pull away with a 15 points lead. Senior Ashley White (Salem, Mass.) tallied seven points in the half and added five rebounds.

With five minutes remaining in the half Crough lit a spark and put up two layups and a quick jumper to make it a 27-16 game. Following her lead sophomore McKenzie Farguharson (New Haven, Conn.) and junior Kayleen Whall (Foxobo, Mass.) tallied three more points combined that led to 12 unanswered Endicott points to cut the lead down to four.

With one minute remaining after a quick two points from freshman Jess Kuzmickas (Windsor Locks, Conn.) Endicott tallied five more consecutive buckets to keep the Gulls within one points to enter halftime. Crough tallied the big shot as she received a feed from junior Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) and took a shot from inside the arc as the horn sounded.

The Blue and Green entered the second half ready to take control as they held the lead for the entire 20 minutes of play. Crough started it off as she took the lead 10 seconds in and was followed by two more unanswered baskets for the Gulls.

The Vikings would not leave quietly as they kept within a good distance of the Blue and Green with big efforts from White as she recorded 19 points. The biggest lead Endicott could take was nine points, with five minutes remaining in regulation the Vikings turned on their game and forced the Gulls to make some key plays. Junior Rachael Carter (Merrimack, N.H.) made a couple key free throws with 3:56 on the clock to make it a one point game. After another quick bucket apiece for each side Salem State tied the game up a 68 after freshman Malissa Saad (Worcester, Mass.) drained two from the free throw line.

Endicott kept the lead with the Vikings right on the heels but with 1:40 remaining on the clock and Gulls whipped out their defense and did not allow Salem State to score for the rest of the game with some key plays from senior Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) and sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.).

Overall the Gulls had a combined 50 rebounds and 11 blocks in their defensive efforts. They shot 72.4% from the free throw line while shooting 28-79 from inside the arc. In addition to the 30 points, Crough recorded seven rebounds while Whall earned a team high of eight.

The Blue and Green will take a break for the remainder of November and tip back off on Wednesday, December 4 when they start their conference schedule as they travel across town to play Gordon at 5:30 p.m. The Vikings will play this coming Saturday the 23^rd when they travel to UMass. Dartmouth for a 1:00 p.m. start.