Women’s Basketball Suffers 74-66 Setback at Endicott

BEVERLY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene women's basketball team dropped a 74-66 decision on the road at Endicott Saturday afternoon.

The loss pushes the Lions to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Gulls improve to 5-1 on the year and 2-0 in league play with the win.

Ruby Leon (Fairfield, Calif.) poured in a career-best 19 points in the game. Michelle Herrera (Santa Barbara, Calif.) netted 15 points while Christina Saint-Pierre (Lantana, Fla.) added six points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Jasmine Johnson (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Tyshay Montgomery (Woodbine, Md.) each chipped in with eight points off the bench.

Senior Abbie Tonello (Bourne, Mass.) finished with seven rebounds and four points on the afternoon. Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) contributed with six points and six boards in the contest.

Eastern Nazarene opened the game with a 5-1 run. The hosts responded with five unanswered points to claim a 6-5 lead 2:57 into the action.

Endicott stretched its advantage to 15 points with 8:33 on a three-pointer by Kelsey Cuddy, 26-11.

The Lions chipped away at the deficit and narrowed the gap to three with 1:47 left to play in the half. Herrera knocked down a jump shot to pull the score to 35-32.

The visitors trailed the Gulls 41-34 at halftime after the hosts closed out the first frame on a 6-2 run.

Eastern Nazarene was led by Herrera and Leon with 11 each at the break. The Lions shot 48.3% from the field in the opening period. The Gulls connected on 40.0% of their shot attempts in the first half.

Eastern Nazarene strung together 10 consecutive points to cut Endicott's lead to two with 14:14 remaining, 48-46.

The Gulls answered with six straight points to increase their advantage to 54-46 with 12:18 left to play.

The home team controlled the lead for the remainder of the contest to secure its second conference victory of the season.

Kelsey Cuddy led Endicott with 19 points while Kayleen Whall added 17 points off the bench.

The Lions shot 42.9% from the floor in the game while being limited to 1-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. The Gulls finished with a field-goal percentage of 36.7% to go with 30.8% shooting from long distance.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will visit Lasell December 10 for a non-conference tilt.