Gulls Fall To WNE Despite Second Half Surge

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott women's basketball team played host to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Western New England on Saturday afternoon. Despite the 16 points from senior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) and 12 points from junior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) the 19 Endicott turnovers were too much as the Gulls fell to the Golden Bears 49-53. Endicott moves to 10-4, (6-2 CCC) while WNE sits at 7-7, (4-4 CCC).

In the first half the Golden Bears were ruthless forcing the Gulls to make 14 turnovers and held them to only 20 points to their 21. The Blue and Green however kept themselves in the game by forcing seven turnovers for WNE and holding them to just 25% from the field. In the opening minutes both sides started in a lull that consisted of four turnovers and three steals in just two minutes.

Sophomore Chelsea Vujs (Berlin, Conn.) ended the stalemate at 17:40 as she broke the ice with a quick jumper from the field for WNE. Endicott answered back as sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) hit a shot from long range. The Golden Bears came back with five unanswered points but the Gulls worked hard inside as Cuddy and Whall drew the fouls to get to the line three times in two minutes to make it a one point game at 9-7 in WNE's favor.

Vujs was on her mark as she tallied a three-pointer and pair from the charity stripe to make it a 14-9 game with 8:27 remaining in the half. After a second trey for the Golden Bear's from freshman Sammi Olson (Tolland, Conn.) the Blue and Green turned up their game by scoring eight consecutive points, the last being from senior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) which took the lead for the Gulls with 1:40 remaining. WNE picked up a layup in the final minute to take back to lead to go up 21-20 to enter halftime.

The second half showed a different Gulls team who composed themselves after halftime and cut down their turnovers to only five in the half while they shot 41.4% from inside the arc. The Blue and Green opened up with a jumper from Crough followed by a trey from senior Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) to take the three point lead.

WNE took control for three minutes as they held Endicott to zero points to their 13 with big efforts from junior Samantha McCann (Warren, Mass.) and freshman Samantha Battaini (Leominster, Mass.) to get a nine point advantage with 12:53 remaining in regulation. The Gulls would not go away quietly as Crough and Whall went bucket for bucket with eight from Whall and six from Crough to cut the lead down to four.

At the 4:35 mark Manning made it a one point game after working hard in the paint for a quick layup. In the final minutes the game was tight as the Gulls were relentless and did not give up until the buzzer sounded as Crough and Cuddy scored the last points for the Blue and Green but they were not enough as WNE nailed their free throws in the final seconds to secure the 53-49 victory.

Senior Ali Pessolano (Hampden, Mass.)  led the Golden Bears in points with 12 while the Gulls were led by Crough and Whall. Cuddy and White both worked hard crashing the boards as they came out with seven apiece. The largest lead of the afternoon was only nine points by WNE while the Gulls relied on their bench again to give them 14 points.

Endicott will take the court next on Tuesday, January 21^st as they travel to conference opponent Wentworth for a 5:30 p.m. start time. The Golden Bears will also travel within the CCC on Tuesday as they take on Salve Regina at 5:30 p.m.