Women’s Basketball Clips Curry in OT on Senior Night, 56-52

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team claimed a 56-52 overtime-victory over Curry Tuesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center on Senior Night. The Lions improved to 11-12 on the year and 6-10 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Colonels drop to 9-14 overall and 5-11 in league play.

The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball program recognized its three seniors in a postgame ceremony. Shardae Brown (Waterbury, Conn.), Ace Carradine (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Mel Green (Annapolis, Md.) were all honored for their hard work and dedication over the past four years.

Junior Abbie Tonello (Bourne, Mass.) paced the Lions offensively with 13 points in the win. Presley Neufeld (Seattle, Wash.) contributed with 11 points while Brown scored nine points and grabbed 15 boards. Carradine and Green each finished with seven points in their final home contest. Freshman Jordan Grays (Elk Grove, Calif.) chipped in with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Curry was led by Kylie Beltz with 19 points and Samantha Corcoran poured in 13 points.

The Colonels raced out to an 11-point advantage midway through the first half, 16-5, as Ashley Assarian sank a trey.

The Lions cut the deficit to five with 3:56 remaining as Brown converted the first of two free throws, 19-14.

Elizabeth Aekus nailed a three-pointer with 1:43 left to play in the half to give Curry a 27-18 edge at halftime.

Neufeld led the Lions at the break with six points as she hit a pair of treys in the opening frame. Brown and Grays each netted five first-half points. 

Eastern Nazarene shot a mere 13.8% from the field in the first period and 16.7% from three-point range. Curry connected on 35.7% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and 2-of-7 from long distance.

The hosts outscored the visitors 15-6 in the opening six minutes of the second stanza. The Lions claimed a one-point advantage with 14:18 remaining as Neufeld knocked down a three-pointer, 34-33.

Green banked in a lay-up with 10:07 on the clock to end a 4:11 scoring drought for both teams, inching the Lions ahead by three 36-33.

Back-to-back buckets with 6:20 left to go gave the Colonels a 40-39 lead as Corcoran tallied a jumper.

Eastern Nazarene responded with a three-pointer by Grays with 5:22 to play to take a two-point advantage, 42-40.

After Curry seized the lead, Neufeld and Tonello each drained one free throw to lift the Lions ahead by one, 44-43, with 3:08 on the clock.

Tonello and Beltz traded layups as the home side picked up a 48-47 edge with 34 seconds remaining.

With 13 seconds on the clock, Corcoran sank the second of two attempts from the charity stripe to level the contest at 48-48.

The two teams ended regulation deadlocked at 48-48, forcing bonus basketball.

In the extra session, Eastern Nazarene netted the first four points and outscored Curry 8-4 in the overtime period to earn the victory.

Carradine tallied three points in the extra five minutes to lead the Lions.

Eastern Nazarene finished with a field-goal percentage of 25.0% while draining 5-of-26 from beyond the arc. The visitors shot 30.8% from the field and downtown on the night.

Up next, the Lions will close out the regular season with a pair of road games at Western New England February 14 and Endicott February 16.