Women’s Basketball Downs Salve Regina 80-67 for Sixth Consecutive Victory

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Western New England University women's basketball team outscored Salve Regina University by 19 points in the second quarter en route to an 80-67 victory over the Seahawks on Wednesday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Top Performers
Senior guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) led the Golden Bears with a career-high 27-point performance, which came on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and 1-of-4 from the free throw line,

Senior forward Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) added 15 points, five assists and three rebounds, while junior forward Emily Scurka (Billerica, Mass.) chipped in with ten points, three boards and three assists off the bench.

Salve Regina senior guard Torie Scorpio (Cranston, R.I.) produced a team-high 25 points for the visitors, shooting 10-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Junior guard Mary Rorke (Norton, Mass.) fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 21 points and nine boards.  

Game Review
The Seahawks connected on their first three field goal attempts and led 10-2 after Rorke hit a jumper just under three minutes into the contest.

Farrell scored the next five points for the Golden Bears, before junior Lauren Chadwick (Gardiner, Maine) drained a three-pointer to tie the score (10-10) at the 5:47 mark of the opening quarter. Western New England took its first lead of the game (12-10) on a jumper by freshman guard Lexi Leon (East Hampton, Conn.) with 3:08 on the clock. 

Scorpio fueled Salve's strong finish to the quarter, scoring eight points over the final 2:50 to put the visitors ahead 19-16.

Western New England surged past the Seahawks in the second period, starting the frame with an 8-0 run to establish a 24-19 advantage. 

Rorke ended Salve's scoring drought with a jumper at the 7:11 mark, but the Golden Bears answered with a 12-0 spurt to push the lead to 15 (36-21) with 3:30 left in the half. Orbann led the way with seven points, including a three-pointer that capped the surge. 

Western New England went on to hold a 44-28 lead at the break after outscoring Salve 28-9 in the second quarter and shooting 68.4 percent from the field. 

Layups by Carlson and Farrell in the opening minute of the third quarter stretched the Golden Bears' lead to 20 (48-28). Salve closed to within 16 on a couple of occasions later in the period, but Western New England held a 21-point cushion (63-42) heading into the fourth. 

The Seahawks chipped away at their deficit early in the final quarter, using four straight points from freshman Megan Henaghan (Whitman, Mass.) that came as part of a 7-0 run overall to close the gap to 14 (63-49).

Following a 7-0 Golden Bear surge that made it a 21-point game (70-49), Salve made one final push, scoring the next eight points to close the gap to 13 (70-57) with 3:24 to play. 

The Seahawks got as close as 12 (72-60) when Rorke connected from long range 43 seconds later, but the fourth quarter rally fell short as the Golden Bears went on to post a 13-point victory.

Notes
• Western New England committed a season-low five turnovers, while scoring 24 points off of Salve's 18 turnovers.
• The Golden Bears shot a season-best 49.3 percent from the field.
• Farrell's previous career-high of 24 points came against Salve Regina in the first round of the 2018-19 CCC Tournament.  

Up Next
Both teams play their final games of the semester on Saturday. Western New England (7-1, 2-0 CCC) travels to Endicott for a rematch of last season's CCC title game, while Salve Regina (0-7, 0-1 CCC) heads back on the road to face the University of New England.