BEVERLY, Mass. — The Endicott women's basketball team celebrated a huge victory over visiting Roger Williams University, 55-41, Saturday afternoon inside MacDonald Gymnasium in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action.

The Gulls defeated the conference-leading Hawks for the first time since the 2014-15 season to earn the regular-season split this year and did so behind a staunch defensive effort and timely shooting, especially beyond the arc.

Endicott led throughout the contest, as the hosts held Roger Williams to just five points in the first quarter to match the Hawks' lowest output in a single quarter this season.

The Gulls' strong defensive effort kept the Hawks off the board until the 3:08 mark of the opening stanza when junior forward Mariah Nicholas (Acushnet, Mass.) sunk a free throw with Endicott leading, 15-1.

The Hawks  then used a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter to bring the score to within four, trailing 20-16, but the Gulls managed a 27-18 advantage at halftime.

Endicott was able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the second half, thanks in part to an overall 23-11 forced turnover edge in the game to score 18 points off the Hawks' mishaps and that proved to be the difference.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott is 17-15 overall and 11-5 at home against the Hawks in the all-time series.
• Junior guard Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) scored a game-high 17 points with 14 of those points coming in the first half alone, on 6-of-14 made field goals (3-of-6 from three-point range) to go with four rebounds, one assist, and a game-best three steals.
• Junior forward Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and tallied 12 points, while freshman guard Emily Pratt (Gardner, Mass.) chipped in 10 points to round out the Gulls in double figures.
• Endicott led by as much as 16 with 39 seconds remaining in the game.

FOR THE FOES

• Roger Williams has won seven of the past nine meetings, including a 66-42 win earlier this season on 01/17/17 in the most recent meeting before today.
• Freshman guard Sam Leone (Ashland, Mass.) led the Hawks with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
• Senior forward/center Bridget Quilty (Duxbury, Mass.) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to go with eight points, one assist, and a floor-leading three blocks.
• The Hawks out-rebounded the Gulls by a 38-33 margin.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (12-11, 11-5 CCC) has a home date with Salve Regina University on Tuesday, February 14th at 5:30 p.m as part of "Show Your LOVE" Night to promote the campus-wide "I See, I Speak, I Pledge" campaign with a Stress Ball Giveaway. Each ball will have a number assigned to it and we will draw numbers throughout the game for prizes. Don't forget to check into the GULL NATION app for 50 points!

Roger Williams (17-6, 14-2 CCC) travels to Springfield, Mass. to face the Western New England University Golden Bears on Tuesday, February 14th at 5:30 p.m.

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