Women’s Basketball Endures 69-49 Setback at Endicott

BEVERLY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team saw its five-game winning-streak end with a 69-49 loss at Endicott Thursday evening.

The Lions move to 11-13 on the season and 9-8 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Gulls improve to 11-13 overall and 7-10 in league play with the win.

Katy Teare (Frazier Park, Calif.) poured in a team-best 12 points off the bench and grabbed five rebounds. Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) finished with eight points and three boards. Krystal Holl (Smithsburg, Md.) notched six points and five rebounds.

Eastern Nazarene can earn a first-round home game in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament with a win over Gordon in the season finale and a loss by Western New England at Endicott.

After the guests scored the first two baskets of the game, the home side strung together 15 consecutive points to grab a 15-4 lead with 13:28 left to play.

Eastern Nazarene sliced the deficit to nine with 7:10 remaining in the half as Courtney Houston (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Jasmine Mata (Santa Barbara, Calif.) knocked down back-to-back triples, 27-18.

The Lions held the Gulls scoreless in the final three minutes of the first frame while chalking up eight points to pull to within six at halftime, 36-30.

Greer paced Eastern Nazarene with six first-half points while Houston and Mata chipped in with five points.

The Lions shot 38.2% from the field in the first frame and drained two three-pointers on 13 chances. The Gulls connected on 42.9% of their field-goal attempts in the opening period while misfiring on all 10 tries from the perimeter.

Endicott opened the second stanza on an 11-0 run to push its lead to 47-30 with 14:07 to go in regulation.

Eastern Nazarene netted its first bucket of the second half with 13:45 remaining on a layup by Teare.

The hosts widened the gap to 22 on a trey by Kayleen Whall with 6:36 left to play, 63-41.

The Lions finished with a field-goal percentage of 30.9% in the game to go with just 2-of-17 shooting from beyond the arc. The Gulls shot 45.3% from the floor and 30% from long range on the night.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene closes out the 2014-15 regular season at home against Gordon February 21.