QUINCY, Mass.- Junior Alexis Malloy nabbed her third double-double of the season as Eastern Nazarene defeated Nichols 66-43 in Commonwealth Coast Conference basketball action on Thursday night. With the win, the Lions move to 6-6 in 2011-2012 and 3-2 in CCC play, while the Bison drop to 3-9 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
Nichol's senior Chelsea Shaughnessy scored the first bucket of the game, and the first 8:05 featured four ties and three lead changes, before Eastern Nazarene began to take control. ENC pushed their advantage to ten after a Dianna Bonds jumper in the paint with 6:10 brought the score to 23-13. The Bison would not submit, however, fighting back to get within five after a tip-in by freshman Alexis Wegrzynek.
The Lions held a seven point lead at the half behind stellar team play, namely from junior Ace Carradine, who dished out six assists in the first period. Malloy and junior Shardae Brown led the offensive attack for ENC with nine and eight points, respectively. Bison junior Hayley Zolphin led the charge for the visiting team out of the gate, collecting a balanced six rebounds and five points, while classmate Kristen Lindgren posted seven first-half boards.
The second period was all ENC, who came out of the gate hot. The Lions shot a scorching 58.6 percent from the field and held the lead the rest of the way, claiming their third CCC victory of 2011-2012.
The Bison got nine more points from Zolphin, who finished with a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double of her own in just 26 minutes of play. Freshman Sarah Whitestone also stepped up, scoring 12 for the NC squad on 6-12 shooting.
Malloy tied Zolphin's 11 boards, and scored a game-high 20 points for the Lions. Bonds was one shy of the double-double, boasting nine rebounds and 12 points in 26 minutes. Carradine finished the game with six rebounds and a season-high 10 assists for ENC. Junior forward Shardae Brown rounded out the group, chipping in 12 points on 6-8 accuracy from the field. Four other players scored five or more in the win.
The Lions travel to Western New England on Saturday January 14 for another CCC match-up beginning at 1:00p.m. Nichols returns home to take on University of New England the same day at 12:00p.m.