BIDDEFORD, Maine – In a rematch of last year's Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball semi-finals matchup, fifth seeded Endicott failed to repeat their upset performance and fell to the top-seed University of New England 69-48 on Thursday evening at Harold Alfond Forum.
The Nor'easters held a 40-13 point lead at half-time and, though the Gulls (16-11) outscored them after the break, never saw their advantage dip below twenty points.
UNE Freshman Lauren Hayden (Chantilly, Va.) led all players with 17 points on 7-11 shooting, while Jen White (Lisbon, N.H.) was the only Gull in double-figures, scoring 13 points, nine of them in the second half, when she was 4-5 and Endicott shot 48% from the field after hitting only 23% in the first.
Hayden also had a game-high seven steals, a key part of the 23 turnovers committed by Endicott, to just 13 miscues by UNE.
The Gulls fired 38% from the floor for the game, with UNE just a touch higher than that on more balanced shooting in each stanza.
With a three-pointer and then a two-point jumper, White twice pulled the Gulls within twenty points with 15 minutes to play in the second half, but the Nor'easters used a 10-2 run to again open up the lead to 28 points and sink any hopes of an Endicott comeback.
Endicott senior Jen McBrien (Medfield, Mass.) had six points and four assists in her final CCC game as a Gull. Junior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) scored nine points and tied a career-high with five blocks. Jordan Ferland (Charlestown, N.H.) had three blocks herself to go with two points and four rebounds for Endicott, who swatted nine balls as a team to just one by the Nor'easters.
Freshman Meghan Gribbin (Windham, Maine) and senior Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine), the CCC Player of the Year, were the other two Nor'easters in double figures. Suggs scored scored ten points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Gribbin poured in 12 points and led the hosts with five assists.
UNE took leads of 6-0 and then 11-2 as freshman Sadie DiPierro (S. Portland, Maine) found her stroke from long range twice in the first four minutes of play, in which UNE shot nearly 60% from the field. The lead ballooned to 22-6 and then reached 36-10 when Kendra Dawles (W. Greenwich, R.I.) hit a layup with under three minutes to go in the first half. Dawless had seven points and seven rebounds for UNE.
The Gulls tied their worst offensive production in a half this year with 13 points, and had just one assist to 15 turnovers in the first twenty minutes.
Endicott junior Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.) scored six points and dished out two assists and two steals.
The Nor'easters win their 17th consecutive game and improve to 23-4 on the season. They will host Salve Regina on Saturday afternoon in the CCC Championship game. The Seahawks beat Roger Williams by an identical 69-48 score in the other semi-final.