Women’s Basketball Tripped Up by New England College

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team suffered a 70-53 setback to New England College Saturday afternoon at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions move to 13-6 on the year and 8-4 in the New England Collegiate Conference with the result. The Pilgrims improve to 12-8 overall and remain in first-place in the league standings with an 11-2 mark.

Kyra Fleharty (Lewistown, Mont.) scored a game-high 20 points and hauled in five rebounds. Tia Torio (Manteca, Calif.) posted her first double-double of the season with an 11-point, 10-rebound effort. Courtney Barba (Pismo Beach, Calif.) tallied seven points while Alyssa Cosio (Santa Barbara, Calif.) netted seven points off the bench.

The visitors capped off a closely-contested first frame with a 6-0 run to grab a 21-17 edge heading into the second period.

New England College widened the gap to 26-18 with 8:06 remaining in the second quarter on a trey by Jaz Laracuente.

Eastern Nazarene cut the deficit to 30-27 as Torio tossed in a layup with 5:31 left to play in the opening half.

The Pilgrims claimed a double-digit advantage with 2:19 to go in the second as a layup by Kayla Ramsay capped off an 8-0 run, 38-27.

The Lions trailed by 10 points, 38-28, at the midway point of the contest.

Eastern Nazarene shot 32.1% from the floor and 30% from three-point range in the first half. New England College posted a field-goal percentage of 41.7% in the opening two quarters to go with 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Fleharty paced the Lions with 14 points at the break while Torio added six.

The home team narrowed the gap to six with 6:03 remaining in the third, 42-36, as Barba drilled a jumper.

The visitors chalked up the final five points of the third quarter to push their lead to 13 heading into the final frame, 52-39.

New England College extended its advantage to 13 points before Eastern Nazarene clawed back to cut the deficit to 54-49 with 7:52 remaining as Barba converted a three-point play from the charity stripe.

The Pilgrims strung together a 12-0 run spanning nearly 3:30 to stretch the margin to 70-50 late in the contest.

The Lions finished with a field-goal percentage of 28.3% and connected on just 3-of-19 from behind the arc. The Pilgrims shot 41% on the day and 31.3% from three-point distance.

Rene Hudson scored 16 points to lead New England College while Laracuente finished with 12 points and seven assists.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene travels to Becker February 5 for a key conference showdown.