BEVERLY, Mass. -- Abby Cavallaro dropped in 24 points, one shy of a career high, as the University of New England began Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action with a 66-60 women's basketball victory over Endicott College on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 20) at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Winners of two straight, the Nor'easters (2-4, 1-0 CCC) led for nearly the final 35 minutes. An 11-4 stretch, featuring a pair of three-pointers from Jordyn Franzen, gave the visitors the edge for good (18-11), and the spread reached eight (37-29) at the half.

A jumper from Cavallaro established the biggest gap of the day (45-34), however nine of the next 11 went for the Gulls. After scoring just two points spanning a five-minute portion of the 3rd quarter, another trey by Franzen provided a little extra cushion (50-43).

Endicott drew within one (58-57) at the 5:13 mark of the 4th, only to see Cavallaro come right back and get a hoop plus a free throw. Three free throws had the deficit down to one (61-60), again, with 2:18 left, but the Gulls went 0-for-6 with one turnover in the waning minutes. The hosts shot 3-of-17 and lost five possessions in the final stanza.

Most of Cavallaro's scoring production came at the charity stripe, going 15-of-17, which matched the program record for makes in a game. It had previously been achieved by Margo Russell in 2010-11 (15-16) and Missy Stults in 2002-03 (15-17).

Franzen totaled 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals for the Nor'easters, before fouling out. Kaylee Beyor put up seven points and seven caroms, and Juliana Tracey added another seven points.

For the Gulls (0-3, 0-1 CCC), Sarah Dempsey registered 13 points and 10 rebounds. Tara Laugeni contributed 10 points and nine boards. Taylor Bogdanski and Lexi Gellerman supplied nine points apiece, while Gellerman added nine rebounds to support the EC 46-34 margin on the glass. Endicott was limited to just 31 percent field goal accuracy (20-for-64), but collected 23 offensive rebounds and tallied 19 second-chance points.

The matchup was the first since the teams met in late February of 2019 in the CCC final, which the Gulls held on for a 57-54 result.