Strong First Half Pushes Women’s Basketball Past Endicott

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 25, 2020) – The Western New England University women's basketball used a strong first half performance to beat Endicott, 81-69, in Commonwealth Coast Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Top Performers
The Golden Bears were led by 22 points from senior forward Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.). Senior guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) added 15 points, while senior forward Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) provided 14 points.

The Gulls received 27 points off the bench from senior Mikaela Rogers (Haverhill, Mass.), while senior Emily Pratt (Gardner, Mass.) added 19 points, all of which came in the second half.

Game Review
The Golden Bears got off to a fast start, taking an early 9-0 lead just a few minutes into the game. The Gulls got on the scoreboard before the Golden Bears pushed the lead to 22-5 after a jump shot by Carlson with 2:03 remaining in the first quarter.

Western New England continued their strong start into the second quarter, dominating for the majority of the quarter, and extended their lead to 36-14 off a layup from senior forward Alyssa Stefanelli (Chicopee, Mass.) with 1:48 remaining in the half. Farrell made a layup as time expired to give the Golden Bears a 41-18 lead going into halftime.

The Gulls came out and cut the lead down to 17 when senior Kaleigh Putnam (Wallingford, Conn.) made a jump shot with 6:40 remaining in the quarter. With the score at 58-37 with 3:07 left in the third quarter, the Gulls ripped off a 9-0 run to end the quarter.

Endicott cut the Western New England lead down to 7 with 3:45 remaining in the game off a layup from Putnam. The Golden Bears then went on an 11-3 run to push the lead back up to 15 with just under a minute remaining in the game to give them the victory.

Notes
• Western New England has now won their last 5 games.
• Western New England currently sits in first place in the CCC standings.

Up Next
Western New England (15-3) hits the road to take on Roger Williams on Tuesday evening. Endicott (8-9) will host Nichols on Tuesday evening.