Gulls Edge Suffolk 50-38, White Tallies A Double-Double

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team hosted Suffolk University on Thursday evening for a non-conference matchup. Senior Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the 50-38 victory over the Rams. Endicott moves to 11-4, (6-2 CCC) while the Rams fall to 8-5, (3-1 GNAC).

The first half was controlled by the Gulls as they outscored Suffolk 31-19 with efforts from Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) who led the half with 10 points and five rebounds. In the opening minutes the two seniors (Crough and White) went on a scoring run and scored the only points for the Blue and Green until the 8:39 mark as White tallied six and Crough recorded 10. The Rams were keeping up with the two as junior Shelby Santini (Winchester, Mass.) hit five points by 8:29 to make it a 16-12 score in Endicott's favor.

With six minutes remaining until the end of the half sophomore Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) blasted a shot from long range followed by a second trey from junior Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) to make it a 28-15 score. The Rams would not go away quietly as Santini earned three consecutive points to cut the lead down to nine with 2:32 left on the clock, however it would end there as the Gulls hit a couple more shots in the final minutes of the half to make it a 12 point game to enter halftime.

The second half was a struggle for both sides as they only posted 19 points apiece while shooting low in all categories. For the Blue and Green Crough led in scoring with just five points while Suffolk was led by sophomore Chelsea Campellone (Fall River, Mass.) who earned eight.

In the first few minutes both sides were going basket for basket, however after a quick jumper from White to make it a 37-23 game the Rams forced the Blue and Green to post zero points in almost eight minutes. Despite the struggle offensively for Endicott they worked hard defensively by only letting up five points in those eight minutes to keep the lead.

At 10:20 Catizone ended the scoring lull by going 1-2 from the charity mark and followed up with a layup a minute later. With 9:19 remaining on the clock Campellone and Santini each worked hard in the paint with two quick layups to get within 10 of the Blue and Green. However, Endicott worked hard to get a bucket each possession to keep the 10 point cushion and at 2:05 Wright nailed a trey to pull out of reach of the Rams. Whall finished the game with a layup and a pair of good shots from the free throw line to push the Gulls to victory.

Overall Endicott shot well from the charity stripe at 70% but their second half scoring lull forced their numbers to go down inside the arch at 31.3%, but they only allowed Suffolk to shoot 25.9% from close range and forced 16 turnovers to help them earn the win. The deep bench for the Blue and Green came up big again this evening as they added 20 points to the scoreboard.

Endicott will take the court next on Saturday as they travel to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Eastern Nazarene at 1:00 p.m. to start their second round of CCC matchups. Suffolk will also hit the road on Saturday as they travel to GNAC opponent Simmons for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.