Endicott Holds off Western New England Late, 56-47

Niland leads Golden Bears with nine points in 14 minutes off the bench

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 30, 2018) – The Endicott College women's basketball team held off Western New England University in the fourth quarter to earn a 56-47 victory over the Golden Bears on Tuesday evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center. 

Top Performers
• Junior guard Caroline Niland (Waltham, Mass.) scored a team-high nine points for the Golden Bears on 4-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-2 from beyond the arc. Niland also recorded two rebounds and one assist in 14 minutes off the bench.
• Sophomore forward Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) finished two points shy of a double-double with eight points, ten boards (five offensive), three assists and one block, while senior captain Dorothy O'Neill (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in with eight points and four rebounds.

• Sophomore guard Emily Pratt (Gardner, Mass.) led Endicott with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line to go with four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.
• Senior guard Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) totaled seven points, six boards, five assists and four steals, while freshman guard Cassandra Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) and senior Sam Charette (Wenham, Mass.) added nine points each for the Gulls.

Game Review
Western New England, which trailed by five (27-22) at halftime and seven (42-35) entering the fourth quarter, pulled to within two (44-42) after freshman forward Emily Scurka (Billerica, Mass.) grabbed an offensive rebound and put back a layup with 7:18 remaining in the contest.

The Golden Bears missed their next five shots, but trailed by just three (46-43) when Scurka made 1-of-2 free throws at the 4:11 mark. Endicott put the game out of reach with a 7-0 run, however, which Charette capped with a three-pointer that made it a ten-point game (53-43) with 2:06 to play. The Gulls led by as much as 12 in the final minute before going on to claim a nine-point triumph.

Western New England held a 10-6 advantage at the conclusion of a low-scoring first quarter in which the Golden Bears limited the Gulls to 21.4 percent (3-of-14) shooting.

Stapelfeld hit back-to-back triples as part of an 8-0 Endicott run late in the second period that put the visitors ahead 25-20, and they led by the same margin (27-22) at the break. Western New England was able to tie the contest on a couple of occasions in the third quarter, including a layup by Orbann at the 6:53 mark that made it 31-31. The Gulls answered with a 7-0 run and maintained their seven-point cushion heading into the final frame.

Notes
• Western New England outrebounded Endicott 37-25, including 13-6 on the offensive glass.
• The Golden Bears shot just 34.5 percent in the second half after connecting on 43.5 percent of their attempts over the first 20 minutes. Endicott shot 36.7 percent in the first half and 48 percent in the second.
• Orbann grabbed 10+ rebounds for the fifth time this season. 

Up Next
Western New England (12-8, 8-5 CCC) travels to Gordon on Saturday, while Endicott (11-9, 9-4 CCC) returns to Beverly to begin a four-game homestand against Eastern Nazarene.