BOSTON, Mass. – The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team opened up the 2011-2012 season on the road against UMass Boston on Wednesday evening. Junior point guard Ace Carradine led all scorers with 20 points as the Lions (1-0) defeated the Beacons (0-1) by the final score of 58-46 in the Clark Athletic Center.
Through the first 10 minutes of Wednesday's game, the two teams battled for control of the scoreboard. Eastern Nazarene took their largest lead of the half shortly after the 10 minute mark following a lay-up from sophomore Dianna Bonds to make it 17-12. The Beacons would rally to come to within one, but the feisty Eastern Nazarene squad would not yield, as they responded with four quick points to retake their five point lead.
The Lions looked determined as they closed out the final four minutes of play with an 8-2 run to go into the locker room up 31-22.
After the break, ENC continued to gain breathing room, scoring the first four points of the half to make it a 13 point game (35-22). Bonds served as the catalyst for the energetic play in the run. The visiting Lions would eventually push their lead up to 19 points, after an Abbie Tonello lay-up (45-26).
The Beacons never gave-up as they began to chip away at Eastern Nazarene's lead late in the contest. UMB's Tasha Bernardez helped to fuel the late rally, as well as Shelby Buck, who hit the Beacons last 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining. Wednesday's game marked the return of Buck, who was only able to play 10 games last season for UMass Boston before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Despite their best efforts UMB was unable to get closer than 10 points.
Junior center Shardae Brown, who was double-teamed most of the night, was able to score 15 points and grab nine rebounds, while Bonds chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds in the win. Alexis Malloy fueled Eastern Nazarene on the boards as she pulled down a game-high 14 boards, six of which were offensive.
"I thought we played well as a team tonight," head coach Sacha Santimano said. "We came out, played together and fought for every point and defensive stop. It was very unselfish basketball."
For the Beacons, their season debut saw Bernardez come off the bench to score a team-high 13 points. Behind her was Teresa Pina with eight points to her name. Elizabeth Dow was the Beacons top rebounder with eight boards.
Eastern Nazarene women's basketball travels to Maine on Friday, November 18th to take on RPI in the Bowdoin College Tip-Off Tournament at 8:00pm. UMB returns to action on Friday when they host Berkeley College (N.Y.) at 5:30 p.m. in game-one of the 2011 UMass Boston Tip-Off Tournament.