Fourth Quarter Effort Lifts Eastern Nazarene over Golden Bears, 73-66

Anderson leads Western New England with team-high 17 points & career-high 14 rebounds

QUINCY, Mass. (February 8, 2017) – The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team used a 9-0 fourth quarter run to pull ahead of Western New England University in an eventual 73-66 victory this evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Lahue Physical Education Center.

Top Performers
• Senior forward Emily Anderson (Rocky Hill, Conn.) led the Golden Bears with a team-high 17 points while also grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds.
• Junior guard Dorothy O'Neill (Staten Island, N.Y.) made 2-of-4 three-pointers and 4-of-12 field goals overall on her way to ten points.
• Senior forward Paige Young (Berlin, Conn.) chipped in with six points, eight rebounds (six offensive), two assists and one steal.

• Eastern Nazarene junior guard Jaysa Cooper (Frisco, Tex.) shot 10-of-18 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line en route to a game-high 28 points. Cooper also recorded nine rebounds and two steals in 24 minutes off the bench.
• Junior guard Kayla Torio (Manteca, Calif.) led the Lions' starting unit with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Game Review
• Leading 5-4 at the 5:42 mark of the first quarter, Eastern Nazarene put together a 6-0 run with four points from Cooper to open up an 11-4 advantage. A 7-0 run later in the frame allowed the Lions to extend their lead into double digits (20-9), before Western New England closed out the period with four straight points to pull back to within seven (20-13) after ten minutes. The Golden Bears shot just 26.3% in the opening quarter, while Eastern Nazarene connected at a 57.1% clip.
• Anderson (six), Young (four) and freshman guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) (three) combined to score all 13 of Western New England's points in the second quarter as the Golden Bears were able to cut one point off their deficit. Eastern Nazarene led by as much as 11 (28-17) with 7:57 remaining, but Western New England responded with a 9-0 run over the next 6:55 to get back to within two (28-26). Cooper scored four straight points heading into the intermission as the Lions led 32-26 at halftime.
• The Golden Bears continued to battle back in the third quarter, as a three-pointer by senior guard Sammie Battaini (Leominster, Mass.) at the 8:09 mark sparked an 8-0 run that saw the Golden Bears tie the score at 36 with 6:12 on the clock.
• Consecutive treys by Torio later in the quarter pushed Eastern Nazarene's lead back to seven (50-43), but Western New England closed out the third with a 5-0 run to pull back to within one (50-49) heading into the final frame.
• Although the Golden Bears tied the score on a couple of occasions early in the fourth quarter, they were never able to pull ahead. A jumper by Cooper with 6:13 remaining snapped a 54-54 tie and started a 9-0 run over the next 1:20 that effectively sealed the contest. Western New England got as close as five (68-63) following a three-pointer by O'Neill in the final minute, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as the Lions held on for the win.

Notes
• Western New England shot 29.9% (20-of-67) from the field and 29.4% (5-of-17) from beyond the arc.
• Eastern Nazarene held a 46-43 rebounding edge.
• Anderson is now 36 points shy of 1000 for her Western New England career. Including the 28 points she scored at Suffolk University as a freshman, Anderson needs just eight to reach the 1000-point milestone.

Up Next
Western New England (15-7, 11-4 CCC) will be back in action on Saturday at Curry, while Eastern Nazarene (15-7, 8-7 CCC) travels to Biddeford, Maine to take on the University of New England.