Women’s Hoops Drops 64-63 Thriller to Western New England

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team absorbed hard-fought 64-63 loss to Western New England Tuesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions dip to 5-3 on the season and 1-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the setback. The Golden Bears improve to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league action with the win.

Shelby Holmes (Seeley Lake, Mont.) poured in 19 points and collected four steals on the night. Michelle Detwiler (Elkhart, Ind.) notched her first career double-double with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Tia Torio (Manteca, Calif.) netted 11 points and hauled in six boards.

The home team took an early 7-2 lead with 7:50 remaining in the first quarter on a trey by Kayla Torio (Manteca, Calif.).

The visitors captured their first lead of the game with 2:21 left to play in the opening period on a pair of free throws by Emily Farrell, 13-12.

Eastern Nazarene outscored Western New England 5-2 in the final 1:33 of the first frame to hold a 17-15 edge heading into the second quarter.

After a back-and-forth start to the second, the Lions clawed ahead 25-20 on a layup by Alyssa Cosio Murillo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) with 4:55 to go in the first half.

The Golden Bears rattled off seven unanswered points to claim a 31-27 edge with 2:26 remaining in the quarter.

Eastern Nazarene trailed at the half, 35-30, after shooting 33.3% from the floor and just 18.2% from beyond the arc in the first two quarters. Western New England connected on 38.7% of its field-goal attempts in the opening half.

Tia Torio paced the Lions with seven points while Murillo chipped in with six points off the bench.

The hosts strung together 11 points and held the guests to just two free throws for the first eight minutes of the third period. Eastern Nazarene built up a 41-37 lead over the span.

After the Golden Bears leveled the score for the seventh time on the night, the two teams traded layups in the final minute of the third quarter to start the fourth knotted at 43-43.

Western New England's largest lead of the fourth quarter came with 1:02 on the clock as Dorothy O'Neill sank the first of two attempts from the charity stripe, 62-56.

Eastern Nazarene battled back to tie the contest at 63-63 with 24 seconds remaining in regulation as Detwiler drilled a jumper in the paint.

The Golden Bears reclaimed a one-point edge with less than six seconds left to play on a free throw by Courtney Carlson, 64-63.

The Lions' last-second shot attempt was blocked by a Western New England defender as the visitors escaped with the one-point victory.

The Lions finished with a field-goal percentage of 38.3% to go with 6-of-24 shooting from three-point range. The Golden Bears shot 41.2% from the floor despite being limited to just one trey on nine attempts.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will step out of conference to host Lesley December 7.