Nor’easters Rally Past Golden Bears on Senior Day, 61-54

Farrell leads Western New England with 16 points & five rebounds

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 17, 2018) – The University of New England outscored Western New England University 11-0 over the final three minutes of regulation to earn a 61-54 win over the Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center. 

Prior to the start of the contest, Western New England honored senior guard Dorothy O'Neill (Staten Island, N.Y.) for her contributions to the women's basketball program over the last four years.

Top Performers
• Sophomore guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) led the Golden Bears with a team-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. Farrell also recorded five rebounds, one assist and one steal.
• Classmate Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) finished with ten points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

• UNE senior forward Olivia Shaw (Saco, Maine) powered the Nor'easters with a double-double, as she scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 14 boards to go with three steals, two assists and one block. Shaw made 5-of-12 field goal attempts and 8-of-10 free throws. 
• Senior Sam MacDonald (Lebanon, N.H.) added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists for the visitors.

Game Review
With the score tied at the break, Western New England held UNE scoreless over the first six minutes of the third quarter as the Golden Bears opened up a 32-27 advantage.

Western New England increased its lead to seven (35-28) when Farrell drained a triple with 3:29 on the clock, but the Nor'easters cut their deficit to four (41-37) heading into the fourth quarter as freshman Elyssa Nicholas (Southborough, Mass.) connected from beyond the arc at the buzzer.

UNE pulled back ahead (47-46) on a pair of Shaw free throws with just under six minutes remaining in the contest. Western New England quickly regained the lead when Orbann went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe, and the sophomore gave the Golden Bears a 54-50 edge with a layup at the 3:04 mark.

The Nor'easters tied the contest with four straight points by Shaw, before pulling ahead for good (56-54) on a Nicholas layup with 1:31 to play. The Golden Bears missed their final five shots as UNE extended the final margin to seven.  

The Nor'easters held a 15-14 edge after a tightly contested first quarter. Farrell led Western New England with six points in the opening frame, while sophomore Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.) added five.

The Golden Bears scored the first seven points of the second quarter and established a six-point advantage (21-16) following a layup by sophomore Alyssa Stefanelli (Chicopee, Mass.) 4:30 into the period. With the help of three-pointers from MacDonald and sophomore Jocelyn Chaput (Nashua, N.H.), however, UNE was able to pull even at 27-27 heading into halftime. 

Notes
• UNE went 16-for-18 (88.9 percent) at the free throw line, while Western New England made just 8-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe.
• The Nor'easters outrebounded the Golden Bears 37-28.
• Farrell's 16-point effort marks her eighth double-figure scoring performance this season. She scored a career-high 18 points at Salve Regina on January 27.

Up Next
Western New England (16-9, 12-6 CCC) earns the fourth seed in the CCC Tournament, and the Golden Bears will host fifth-seeded Salve Regina in the CCC quarterfinals on Tuesday night. UNE (20-5, 16-2 CCC) will open the CCC playoffs as the top seed.