BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England closed the 3rd quarter with a 17-4 surge to erase a five-point deficit on the way to a 78-64 victory over Gordon College in the No.2/No.7 first round matchup of the 2024 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Basketball Championship on Tuesday night (Feb. 20) inside the Harold Alfond Forum on Coach Beaudry's Court.

With the win, the Nor'easters (20-6) move forward into the semifinals on Thursday (7 p.m.) and will host third seed Roger Williams University, which took care of Nichols College by 32. [Championship Central]

Jordyn Franzen paced the home team with her eighth double-double of the campaign, amassing 25 points, 10 rebounds, another game-high of six assists, and three steals. It was her ninth contest scoring north of 20 this year, and she's averaging 24 over the last six outings.

Faye Veilleux supported with a double-double, as well, netting all of her 12 points after halftime and winding up with 11 boards and three steals. Kaylee Beyor supplied a season-high 17 points, six caroms, and three blocks, while Sydney Jenisch contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. UNE held a 46-31 advantage on the glass, and dominated scoring in the paint to the tune of 38-16.

For the Fighting Scots (5-21), Ami Rivera hit 4-of-6 from downtown and made all eight of her free throws en route to 22 points. Isabella Rivera added 12 points, and Sydney Noyes had 11 to go with a team-best six boards. The squad collectively made 9-of-21 from deep to out-score UNE by 18 behind the arc.

Gordon had many of the answers early on and logged a 24-20 lead at the end of the 1st frame, behind 11 from Ami Rivera and 5-of-7 accuracy from three-point land as a team. The margin remained four (35-31) at intermission; while there were six lead-changes across the initial 20 minutes, the visitors were ahead for nearly 18 of those (0:36 for UNE).

It was 42-37 with just over six minutes to play in the 3rd before the Nor'easters started to piece together scoring possessions with defensive stops. Back-to-back buckets from Veilleux and Franzen put the hosts in front for good at 48-44 [Watch]; Franzen had eight points during the turnaround, and the Scots could only muster 1-of-5 shooting while being pressured into seven turnovers, as the cushion flipped in favor of UNE (54-46).

Gordon made its first four field goals of the 4th to narrow the gap to 58-55, however, it wasn't long before a jumper by Veilleux and triple from Franzen pushed the spread back up to eight [Watch]. A Rivera trey had it down to seven (71-64) with less than 60 seconds on the clock, but UNE made its free throws to seal it.

Reaching the 20-win mark for the first time since 2019-20, the Nor'easters now turn their attention towards RWU. UNE swept the season series with the Hawks, which hadn't been accomplished since 2015-16. On January 13 in Rhode Island, the Nor'easters dealt the two-time defending league champs their first setback (70-60) against a conference opponent in 23 months (32 straight wins); less than two weeks ago, UNE eked out a 61-58 result. The last time they met in the postseason was the 2018 final, when the Nor'easters claimed their latest crown.