Jan 22, 2015
WATERVILLE, Maine -- Colby College out-scored the University of New England by a 31-14 margin over the final 13 minutes to secure a 56-45 non-conference women's basketball victory on Thursday evening (Jan. 22) at Wadsworth Gymnasium.
The Mules improve to 12-4 with the win, while the Nor'easters (12-3) fall for the first time in eight outings.
Brooke Chandor paced the hosts with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Carylanne Wolfington and MaryKate Caverly each tallied 10 points; Wolfington also had eight rebounds, and Caverly dished out six assists. Caitlin Nolan added nine points for Colby, which shot just 28 percent from the field in the contest but edged its opponent by eight points at the charity stripe(sinking 17 of 18) and by seven points from behind the three-point arc (going 9 of 35).
Kelly Coleman and Meghan Gribbin led Big Blue with nine points apiece; Coleman and Alanna Vose shared the team-high in rebounds with nine. Lauren Hayden contributed seven points and seven rebounds.
After connecting on just 25 percent of their shots before halftime, the Nor'easters made 39 percent in the 2nd half but only converted 7-of-13 attempts at the line in the closing period.
Facing a 23-20 deficit at intermission, UNE used nine unanswered points early in the final frame to assume its largest lead of the night (31-25) with 13:06 to go.
The Mules countered with three-pointers from Mia Diplock and Chandor on consecutive possessions to level the contest at 31-31, and Colby moved in front for good (35-34) on a basket by Nolan with 9:18 left on the clock. An empty trip by the Nor'easters and a sequence of four straight free throws quickly pushed the gap to 39-34.
Treys by Wolfington and Nolan down the stretch continued to expand the cushion (42-36, 45-37), and Colby dropped in all 10 of its free throws in the last 0:59 to preserve the advantage.
In the 1st half, Big Blue recorded the first hoop of the game but missed its next 10 shots to fall behind, 8-2. The Mules were up by as many as seven (17-10) in the latter stages of the stanza before settling on the three-point margin at the break. Wolfington had seven points for Colby at the midway mark, while Brooke Flaherty scored all of her six in the opening 20 minutes for UNE.
Both sides get back to conference action on Saturday. The Mules head into a NESCAC match at Bowdoin College, which last lost back on November 25 to UNE and is riding a 13-game winning streak since. The Nor'easters (9-0 CCC) will look to bounce back at home (1 p.m.) against Western New England University (5-4 CCC).