BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Fourth-seeded Endicott College received a pair of free throws from sophomore Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) with 8.8 seconds remaining to secure a 53-49 upset victory over No. 1 University of New England in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Basketball Championship played Thursday evening at James A. Beaudry Gymnasium.
The Gulls (17-10) advance to Saturday's league title contest, which will be played at the second seed, Salve Regina University, which defeated No. 3 Western New England University by a score of 74-49.
Big Blue (22-5) will now wait until Monday on word of a possible Pool C bid to the NCAA tournament. The championship selection show can be seen live online beginning at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Trailing by three (31-28) at the start of the second half, the Nor'easters scored the first five points to assume a 33-31 advantage. The lead was short lived, however as Endicott sophomore Jordan Ferland (Charlestown, Mass.) came back with two the other way to even the score. With just under 18 minutes to go in the game, the Gulls would not see another deficit the rest of the way.
Ferland and UNE senior Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) traded hoops for a tie at 35-all, before the ensuing 3:31 went without any points for either side. Crough broke the drought with a three-pointer, and Endicott had a 41-35 cushion by the 12:34 mark.
Another three minutes went off the clock with neither team scoring, until Nor'easters junior Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) converted two freebies with 9:36 to go (41-36). Suggs added two more from the charity stripe with 7:32 left to pull UNE back even at 43-43.
The Gulls took the lead for good on their next possession, as sophomore Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) got a basket and the foul. Though Suggs put in a layup on the following trip for UNE, Endicott senior Nicole Heffernan (Londonderry, N.H.) nailed a trey with 5:19 on the clock to stretch the difference to four (49-45).
Ferland made the lead six (51-45) at the 2:57 mark, which held for two minutes before Paradis sunk two free throws to trim the margin to four (0:56). A turnover and two misses on the front end of 1-and-1 chances left the door open UNE, and senior Kari Pelletier (South Paris, Maine) got a layup to go with :09 ticks remaining to make it 51-49.
After Crough's two free throws for Endicott, UNE could not get a basket to extend the game.
Crough and Heffernan each tallied 11 points to pace the visitors, and Ferland chipped in with 10. Sophomore Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) recorded 11 rebounds to go along with four steals.
For the Nor'easters, Paradis and Suggs each had 14 points. Suggs, who finished with 18 boards, corralled nine of UNE's 25 offensive rebounds, and Big Blue finished with a 53-37 advantage on the glass. First-year Kelly Coleman (Portland, Conn.) also reached double figures in rebounds (10), with seven coming on the offensive end.
UNE suffered from shooting just 24 percent (17-for-71) in the contest.
In the opening period, a jumper from Heffernan gave the Gulls a 9-8 lead after seven minutes of action. The Nor'easters responded with a pair of three-pointers to gain a five-point edge (14-9), and Big Blue was still up by four (23-19) with 4:17 left in the half.
White's only made basket of the night -- a shot from long distance -- sparked a 12-2 run for Endicott in a span of 2:50 to grab a 31-25 cushion, but a trey from Paradis sliced the deficit in half as the game headed to intermission. Heffernan was the high scorer at the break with eight points -- on her way to a perfect shooting performance (4-for-4) in the match.