Women’s Basketball Drops 62-53 Decision at Salve Regina

NEWPORT, R.I.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team suffered a 62-53 setback at Salve Regina Thursday evening. The Lions slide to 10-10 on the season and 5-8 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the result. The win improves the Seahawks to 11-9 overall and 8-5 in the league.

Mel Green (Annapolis, Md.) led the visitors with 12 points and nine boards. Abbie Tonello (Bourne, Mass.) recorded 10 points and five rebounds. Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii) chipped in with eight points while Jordan Grays (Elk Grove, Calif.) added six points and five boards. Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn.) hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds and scored seven points. Presley Neufeld (Seattle, Wash.) also contributed with seven points and four boards in her first game back from injury.

Salve Regina scored the first six points of the contest to snag a 6-0 lead.

The visitors got on the board with 14:14 remaining as Carradine hit a jumper.

The Seahawks extended the gap to 10 points, 17-7, on a pair of free throws by Brianna Del Valle midway through the opening period.

The Lions used a 13-4 run to trim the deficit to one, 21-20, with four minutes left in the half as Green banked in a lay-up.

Eastern Nazarene tied the game at 23-23 with 1:18 remaining in the half on a layup by Carradine.

Salve Regina restored its two-point lead with 47 seconds left in the first frame as Sarah Averill hit a jump shot.

The two squads headed into the halftime intermission knotted at 25-25 after Brown knocked down a jumper with 20 seconds left to play.

Carradine paced the Lions in the first half with eight points while Green added six points and five boards. Brown netted five points and grabbed nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Eastern Nazarene shot 42% from the floor in the first period while the Seahawks connected on 32% of their field goal attempts.

Tonello sank a jumper to start the second stanza and give the Lions a 27-25 edge.

The two sides traded baskets and ownership of a one-point advantage until Grays nailed a three-pointer with 16:58 left to play to lift the visitors' lead to two, 32-30.

Salve Regina responded with a 14-2 run to claim a 44-34 lead with 11:04 left to play.

Eastern Nazarene cut the margin to four points, 57-53, with 1:40 remaining in regulation as Neufeld completed a three-point play with a made free throw.

The Seahawks converted 5-of-8 attempts from the charity stripe in the final minute of action to seal the victory.

The Lions finished the game with a field-goal percentage of 36% while Salve Regina shot 40% on the night.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene remains on the road as it visits Gordon February 2. The Lions defeated the Fighting Scots 61-51 at home earlier this season.