Women’s Basketball Squeezes Past Curry, 50-49

MILTON, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team edged Curry 50-49 Thursday evening on the road at the Student Center Gymnasium to snap a two-game skid. The victory lifts the Lions to 8-6 on the season and 4-4 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Colonels drop to 7-8 overall and 3-5 in league action with the loss.

Senior Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn.) led all scorers with a season-high 19 points on the night while also registering a season-best 20 rebounds to post her fifth double-double of the year.

Jordan Grays (Elk Grove, Calif.) contributed with seven points and Mel Green (Annapolis, Md.) finished with six points and 12 boards. Abbie Tonello (Bourne, Mass.) added six points while Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Presley Neufeld (Seattle, Wash.) each chipped in with five points and five rebounds.

Curry opened up a five-point advantage 4:27 into the contest as Jeannette Fallon stretched the scored to 10-5.

The Lions roared back to level the score at 12-12 with 11:48 remaining in the opening frame on a trey by Green. The senior responded with her second-straight three-pointer on the visitors' next possession to give Eastern Nazarene a 15-12 lead with 11:11 left to play.

The Colonels reclaimed a one-point edge, 19-18, with 3:41 on the clock as Samantha Corcoran banked in a layup.

The Lions closed out the first half with eight unanswered points, including a lay-in at the buzzer by Brown, to hold a 26-22 lead at intermission.

Brown scored 10 points and hauled in nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of play to lead Eastern Nazarene at the break. Green and Grays each netted six points in the first frame.

The visiting team shot 29.4% from the floor and 27.3% from behind the arc. The hosts owned a field-goal percentage of 30.9% at halftime but were limited to 1-of-6 shooting from downtown.

The Lions extended their lead to 10 points, 32-22, with three consecutive buckets to start the second stanza.

Eastern Nazarene pushed the margin to 13 with nine minutes left to play as Neufeld knocked down a jumper, 41-28.

Curry battled back to cut the deficit to one, 48-47, as Christina Deiorio netted her only basket of the game with 27 seconds remaining.

Grays and Carradine each converted 1-of-2 chances from the free throw line down the stretch to widen the gap to three with nine seconds showing on the clock.

The Colonels' Shannon Griffith tipped in a missed three-pointer at the buzzer make the final score 50-49.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 30.6% to compliment 25% shooting from the three-point line.

Up next, the Lions return home to take on Endicott January 19.