Gulls Upset Roger Williams for Spot in CCC Semifinals

2014-15 CCC Women's Basketball Tournament Interactive Bracket

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Endicott women's basketball team upset the #2 seed, Roger Williams in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Quarterfinals this evening. Highlighted by a career high 17 points from senior Katelyn Wright the Gulls soared to an impressive 73-59 victory to snap the four game losing streak to the Hawks. Endicott will march on to their four consecutive Semifinal appearance sitting at 12-14 (7-11 CCC) while Roger Williams falls to 19-7 (16-2 CCC).

The Gulls will travel to #3 Curry (13-13, 9-9) Thursday, February 26^th for the Semifinal round. The Colonels also earned a place in the final four after defeating #6 Salve Regina 54-49 this evening. Please stay connected on ECGulls.com for updates and game times for the remainder of the tournament. The Colonels defeated the Gulls in both their regular season meetings. The pair last saw each other on February 14^th where the contest finished with Curry just edging the Blue and Green 46-42. The Gulls lead Curry 20-5 in their all-time results.

Following close behind the game leader, Wright, junior Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) tallied 16 points in the victory while senior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) and the CCC Rookie of the Year Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) both scored 13 each. The Blue and Green put up some of their best numbers of the season leading in all scoring categories. Endicott put up 41.8% from the field to the 39.0% from the Hawks while the Gulls boasting a 50% mark from long-range and 76.0% from the free throw line.

Wright led the way from beyond the arc hitting 4-of-5 while the efforts down low from Cuddy, Whall and Shaw helped give the Gulls 28 points in the paint. The Hawks did manage to take advantage of the Endicott turnovers scoring 16 points off those plays as junior Angelica Ariola (Prospect, Conn.) and sophomore Katie Lowerre (Sharon, Mass.) led Roger Williams with two steals apiece.

The first half was a battle as the Gulls took the 34-31 advantage as Shaw and junior Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) each put up seven points. The Hawks led from the field shooting 50% to the Gulls 42.9% but Endicott answered back with their 40% mark from long-range. The Blue and Green also took advantage of their trips to the free-throw line going 6-of-8, led by a perfect 4-of-4 from Catizone.

The Hawks sophomore Bridget Quilty (Duxbury, Mass.) kept Roger Williams in the game with her eight points while junior Rachel Battista (Johnston, R.I.) led the half with nine points coming off the bench.

The second half was controlled by the Blue and Green as they took the 39-28 advantage led by the strong 14 points from Wright who put up the half of her career shooting 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. For the Hawks Ariola picked up her game with 11 points and three boards to help keep the Roger Williams energy alive.

Endicott was hungry to claim the upset victory as they kept pushing hard offensively as Whall led the half with three assists as a playmaker while Cuddy tallied 10 points while leading with six boards. The Gulls were able to hold the Hawks to 30.3% shooting from the field to their 40.7% mark while more than doubling Roger Williams numbers from three-point range (66.7%).

Endicott stayed on their toes and kept their confidence despite holding just a one possession game for most of the second half. After some key buckets from all five in the starting lineup in the final minutes Endicott paved their way through the half to a 14 point victory to finish strong for a 73-59 final score.