BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior forward Margo Russell (Madison, Maine) poured in 25 points to pace the University of New England in a 76-52 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball victory over Western New England University in the regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at James A. Beaudry Gymnasium.

The Nor'easters now sit at 21-4 (16-2 CCC) heading into the CCC Championship, which begins Tuesday (7 p.m.) for the tournament's top seed against No. 8 Nichols College in Biddeford. Big Blue has come out victorious in the last seven meetings against the Golden Bears.

Russell shot the ball extremely well on the day, going 6-of-10 from the floor -- including 5-of-7 from downtown -- and 8-for-9 at the free throw line. The offensive effort left Russell one point shy of a career-high, and increased her four-year total to 1,283, which is good a tie for 8th on the all-time scoring list. She also picked up six rebounds in the match.

Junior Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) added 18 points on equally good shooting (6-11 FG, 6-7 FT), and corralled seven boards. Sophomore Lauren Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine) tossed in 12 points.

Senior Kari Pelletier (South Paris, Maine) finished with eight points, a career-best nine assists, and four steals, while classmate Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) registered seven rebounds, four blocks, four assists, and three steals. Both players, along with Russell, were honored before the game for contributions to the program over the last four seasons -- which might be highlighted best by a 50-6 record as a group in CCC regular-season contests.

For Western New England (13-12, 12-6 CCC), junior Emily Savino (Ellington, Conn.) tallied a team-high 11 points. Junior center Elena Radzikowski (Medway, Mass.) and sophomore Ali Pessolano (Hampden, Mass.) notched eight points apiece.

UNE never trailed on the afternoon, and broke away from a 5-4 game early on with eight unanswered points to go up 13-4 after five minutes of action.

Though the Golden Bears worked the margin down to four (16-12) at the 11:09 mark, the defense pressure from the Nor'easters proved to be too much to handle. Big Blue forced 14 WNE turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, and converted those possessions into 20 points on the other end.

A corner trey from Rousseau just before the halftime buzzer pushed the lead to 14 (37-23) and gave her 11 points at the break.

Within 5:18 of play in the second period, the UNE cushion surpassed 20 (50-28), and crested at 32 (72-40) with 5:44 left on a deep shot from Russell.

Western New England -- which won 11 of 15 outings down the home stretch of the season -- will also host a postseason tournament game on Tuesday as the No. 3 seed, earning a quaterfinal round matchup with Eastern Nazarene College.