Western New England Wraps Up Regular Season Slate with 62-46 Win over Roger Williams

Golden Bears secure third seed in CCC Tournament, will host Salve Regina on Tuesday night

BRISTOL, R.I. (February 16, 2019) – The Western New England University women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season schedule with a 62-46 victory over Roger Williams University on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the RWU Campus Rec Center.

With the win, Western New England (17-8, 11-5 CCC) clinched the third seed in next week's CCC Tournament, and the Golden Bears will host No. 6 seed Salve Regina on Tuesday night. Roger Williams (13-12, 11-5 CCC) earns the fourth seed, and the Hawks will remain at home to take on No. 5 seed Curry on Tuesday.

Top Performers
Western New England was led by junior guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.), who scored a game-high 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field (2-2 3-pt) and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, while also recording three assists, three steals & two rebounds.

Senior guard Meghan Gilhool (Montrose, Pa.) did a little bit of everything with 11 points, seven boards, four assists and four steals, while junior forward Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.) finished with 16 points, five rebounds and two steals.  

Roger Williams received ten points from junior Sam Leone (Ashland, Mass.) and eight from junior Gabby Jerahian (Quincy, Mass.).

Game Review
After a slow start offensively for both teams, Western New England opened the scoring with a Lauren Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) three-pointer almost four minutes into the contest.

A Jerahian jumper got the Hawks on the board midway through the opening quarter, and Roger Williams trailed by one (7-6) before Western New England closed out the frame with a 7-0 run to open up a 14-6 advantage.

Roger Williams scored the first six points of the second period to get to within two (14-12), and the Hawks eventually tied the contest (16-16) when Jerahian got to the rim for a layup at the 6:49 mark.

The home team pulled ahead for the first time 18 seconds later on a layup by sophomore Alyssa Grant (Berlin, Conn.), and the Hawks led 22-18 with 3:23 on the clock, but the Golden Bears scored the final four points of the half to tie the score at the break.

The lead changed hands twice early in the third quarter, with Western New England taking the lead for good (31-29) on an Emily Scurka (Billerica, Mass.) layup with 3:35 left in the period.

Scurka's basket started a 7-0 run that included five points from Farrell as the Golden Bears went up 36-29 with three minutes to play in the quarter. Western New England led by as much as ten on two occasions later in the frame, but the Hawks used two free throws from sophomore Sam Mancinelli (Peabody, Mass.) in the closing seconds to reduce their deficit to nine (45-36) heading into the fourth.

Roger Williams was unable to get any closer over the final ten minutes of play, as Western New England scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to open up a 17-point advantage (53-36).

The visitors ended their long scoring drought with 3:29 left in the game when freshman Lindsay Towle (Dover, N.H.) connected from beyond the arc, but their deficit proved to be too much to overcome as the Golden Bears cruised to a 12-point win.

Notes
• Western New England ended the third quarter with a 16-7 run and started the fourth with an 8-0 spurt to put the game out of reach.
• The Golden Bears outrebounded the Hawks 40-33, led by Gilhool and junior Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.), who combined to secure 15 boards.