Women’s Basketball Falls at Western New England, 67-50

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team suffered a 67-50 loss at Western New England Thursday evening. The Lions drop to 11-13 overall and 6-11 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Golden Bears improve to 15-9 on the year and 12-5 in league action.

Junior Presley Neufeld (Seattle, Wash.) led the visitors with 12 points, five assists and four steals on the night. Senior Mel Green (Annapolis, Md.) scored 11 points and grabbed seven boards. Playing in her 100th career game for Eastern Nazarene, senior Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished with eight points and a pair of steals. Senior Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn.) secured a team-high eight rebounds in the game and poured in eight points while junior Abbie Tonello (Bourne, Mass.) netted eight points.

After Eastern Nazarene tallied the contest's first bucket, Western New England tacked on eight-straight points to go up 8-2 after 3:34 had elapsed.

The Lions seized a one-point edge just past the midway point of the first half as Jordan Grays (Elk Grove, Calif.) nailed a trey, 13-12.

An 11-2 run by the Golden Bears gave the home side a 29-19 advantage with 3:40 remaining in the opening frame.

The Lions headed into the halftime break trailing the Golden Bears by 12 points, 33-21.

Neufeld led Eastern Nazarene at intermission with six points as she sank a pair of three-pointers in the first 20 minutes of play. Green and Brown each recorded four first-half points for the visitors.

Western New England stretched its lead to 18 with 14:44 left to play as Elena Radzikowski tossed in a layup, 41-23.

Eastern Nazarene responded with 11 consecutive points to trim the margin to seven with 11:01 remaining, 41-34, as Neufeld knocked down a jumper.

The Golden Bears chalked up seven unanswered points to extend their lead to 50-36 with 6:46 remaininig.

The hosts drained 12 free throws in the final 2:52 to close out the victory.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the game with a field-goal percentage of 34.5% while connecting on 4-of-21 from behind the arc. Western New England shot 48.1% from the floor on the night and 2-for-10 from long range.

The Lions will close out the regular season February 16 at Endicott.