Women’s Hoops Caps Off Regular Season with 48-39 Loss at Curry

MILTON, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team dropped a 48-39 decision at Curry Saturday afternoon in the final regular season contest of 2017-18.

The Lions move to 12-13 on the year and finish with a 6-12 mark in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Colonels improve to 12-13 overall and 8-10 in league action.

Eastern Nazarene enters the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will head to top-seeded University of New England February 20 for a quarterfinal matchup. The Lions will be making their fourth-consecutive trip to the CCC Playoffs and have reached the postseason in six of the past seven seasons.

Shelby Holmes (Seeley Lake, Mont.) registered her third double-double of the season as she scored a team-best 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Kayla Torio (Manteca, Calif.) finished with nine points, seven boards, and four assists. Alyssa Cosio Murillo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) chipped in with five points off the bench while Michelle Detwiler (Elkhart, Ind.) hauled in eight rebounds on the day.

After a back-and-forth start to the contest, the home team opened up a 16-11 lead with 2:05 to go in the first quarter as Molly Plunkett nailed a three-pointer.

Curry carried its 16-11 advantage into the second period and netted the frame's first bucket to widen the gap to 18-11 with under eight minutes remaining.

The Colonels stretched the margin to 10 points with 1:13 to go in the quarter on a free throw by Emily Irwin, 25-15.

Eastern Nazarene trailed 26-15 at the midpoint of the contest after shooting just 19.2% from the field in the first half.

The hosts extended their lead to 31-18 on a layup and free throw by Plunkett with 6:50 left to play in the third.

After the Lions cut the deficit to seven, Curry regained a double-digit lead just before the end of the third period to lead 40-28 through three quarters.

Eastern Nazarene clawed back to narrow the gap to 40-39 as it began the fourth frame on an 11-0 run, capped off by a fast-break layup by Seniesha Sekaquaptewa (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

Curry closed out the game with eight unanswered points to hang on for the 48-39 victory.

The Lions shot 25% from the floor and 31% from three-point distance on the day. The Colonels finished with a field-goal percentage of 29.3% while draining 6-of-17 from beyond the arc.