Women’s Basketball Suffers 71-55 Loss to Endicott Saturday

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball fell to Endicott 71-55 Saturday afternoon at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions sink to 5-11 on the season and 1-8 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Gulls rise to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in league games with the victory.

Ruby Leon (Fairfield, Calif.) paced Eastern Nazarene with 14 points in the contest. Christina Saint-Pierre (Lantana, Fla.) finished with nine points and five rebounds. Jordan Grays (Elk Grove, Calif.) chipped in with seven points and a team-best eight boards.

The Lions boasted an 8-4 advantage through 3:20 of action.

Endicott responded with back-to-back buckets to knot the score at 8-8 with 14:19 left to play in the period.

Eastern Nazarene extended its lead to nine with 10:48 remaining, 17-8, as Katy Teare (Frazier Park, Calif.) tossed in a lay-up.

The Gulls chipped away at the deficit and captured a one-point edge with 7:56 to go on a lay-in by Julie Manning, 22-21.

The visitors utilized a 13-0 run to claim a 36-23 advantage with 3:58 on the clock.

The Lions capped off the first stanza on a 10-2 run trimmed the halftime deficit to 38-33.

Grays led the home side with seven first-half points and five rebounds. Leon notched six points while Saint-Pierre and Teare each added five points.

The Lions connected on 35.1% of their field-goal attempts in the first frame, including 2-of-5 from long range. The Gulls shot 43.8% from the floor and 42.9% from beyond the arc in the opening half.

Endicott controlled the lead throughout the second stanza. The visitors stretched the margin to 23 with 6:37 left to play, 65-42.

The Lions shot 28.8% from the floor on the afternoon and 21.4% from three-point distance. The Gulls finished with a field-goal percentage of 50.0% to go with 4-for-12 shooting from behind the arc.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene hits the road to visit league-leading University of New England January 29.