BOSTON, Mass. (2/6/24) – Graduate guard Leandra Ortiz surpassed 1,000 career points as the Nichols College women's basketball team earned its second consecutive victory on Tuesday night, besting Wentworth Institute of Technology 81-57 at Tansey Gymnasium.

Nichols improves to 11-11 (6-7 CCC) overall on the season, while the Leopards fall to 4-16 (0-13 CCC).

Graduate Kiera Fernandes highlighted a group of five Bison in double-figures, scoring 16 points on 7-of-16 (43.8%) shooting with 10 rebounds for the team's first double-double performance of the season. Ortiz, senior Summer Klein and sophomore Adriana Romano each scored 11 points apiece, while sophomore Alyvia Smith added 10 points. The Bison shot 33-of-89 (37.1%) from the field in the contest and scored a colossal 52 points off of 47 Wentworth turnovers.

The Bison started early with an 11-4 lead through the opening five minutes of the game behind points from five separate scorers. Wentworth countered with consecutive layups more than two minutes apart to bring the Bison lead down to 11-8, but a final three-pointer by Ortiz with 1:02 left helped Nichols carry a 14-8 lead into the second.

By halftime, Wentworth had cut the Bison lead down to two points but found that was the closest they would get for the rest of the game. In the third, Nichols dominated behind 46.1 percent (12-of-26) shooting, outscoring the hosts 32-14. The longest scoring streak for Nichols came between the 5:40 and 2:51 mark of the period, where they scored 14 unanswered points to take a 57-41 lead. The Bison also closed out the quarter with another 7-0 run, pushing their lead to 20 points () heading into the final stanza.  
Nichols finished the evening in style as they continued to capitalize on each opportunity in the fourth quarter, resulting in their lead reaching as high as 30 points with under five minutes to play. Despite being out shot in the second half, the Bison outscored the Leopards by a 49-27 margin to cap-off the 81-57 victory.

Women's Basketball returns home for Senior Night and National Women in Sports Day on Saturday, February 10^th, where they will play host to Suffolk University (17-5, 10-3 CCC) for a 1:00 PM tipoff at the Nichols Athletic Center.