QUINCY, Mass. – A 20-3 run to start the game and dominance on the glass helped Eastern Nazarene College topple the Endicott Gulls 55-44 Saturday afternoon in the final game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball regular season.
Endicott (15-10, 12-6 CCC) have clinched the fourth seed in the CCC championship tournament. The Gulls will host Roger Williams on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal matchup.
Freshman Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) led the Gulls with 16 points, while sophomore Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) added ten points. Each of them grabbed eight rebounds, by far the highest on the team for the day. White led the way with three assists and five steals, while picking up one of the team's two blocks.
After Endicott led by a slim 4-2 margin, the host Lions rattled off a 20-3 run to take a 15 point advantage and seize control of the game. Endicott would trail by double-digits for the remainder of the contest and, despite a 9-0 run to end the game, end up losing their second straight tilt to end the regular season.
Mel Green (Annapolis, Md.) led the Lions with 12 points off the bench. She also added nine rebounds, as the Gulls were outrebounded 53-33, including a 17-6 margin on the offensive glass, helping ENC to a 13-2 advantage in second chance points. The Lions were led on the glass by junior Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn.) who pulled in 14 boards to go with 8 points.
Green was also 2-3 from behind the three-point line for a Lions team that shot just over 30% (7-23) from downtown for the game.
Endicott shot just 20 percent in the first half and trailed by 12 points at the break, 29-17. A balanced scoring attack saw Green lead the way with 7 points, helping Eastern Nazarene's bench to a 10-0 first half scoring margin over Endicott's reserves.
Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) scored five points off the bench for the Gulls, matched by sophomore forward Jordan Ferland (Charlestown, N.H.). Junior co-captain Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) came off the bench to grab three rebounds and collect a block and two steals.
Four different Eastern Nazarene players dished out three or more assists, led by four dimes from junior Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii). Carradine was the other Lion in double-digits, scoring 11 points, while Dianna Bonds (Marietta, Ga.) added nine points and ten rebounds.
The Lions of Eastern Nazarene improve to 13-12 (10-8 CCC) and will be the sixth seed in the CCC tournament. They will travel to play #3 Western New England in the first round.