Women’s Basketball Falters at Curry, 70-61

MILTON, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team suffered a 70-61 setback on the road at Curry College Thursday evening.

The Lions slide to 6-10 on the season and 5-5 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the result. The Colonels improve to 11-7 overall and 8-3 in league play with the win.

Courtney Houston (Santa Barbara, Calif.) scored a team-best 16 points on the evening. Mhiah Vickers (Westlake Village, Calif.) tallied 15 points and grabbed six boards to go with four assists and three blocks.

Jasmine Mata (Santa Barbara, Calif.) chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds off the bench. Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) finished with eight points and eight boards while Elia Salazar (Los Angeles, Calif.) collected a game-high 12 rebounds.

Eastern Nazarene knotted the score at 11-11 seven minutes into the contest as Mata knocked down a triple.

Curry responded with five consecutive points to claim a 16-11 lead with 11:09 remaining in the half.

The home side expanded its advantage to 14 points as Kerry White converted a pair of free throws with 3:21 left to play, 36-22.

The Lions trailed the Colonels at halftime after the two teams halved the final 10 points of the frame, 41-27.

Houston paced Eastern Nazarene with nine points in the first period while Vickers added eight points and Mata chalked up six.

The visitors shot 32.4% from the field in the opening frame, including 38.5% from three-point range. The hosts drained 43.8% of their field-goal attempts in the first half and sank one trey on five efforts.

Eastern Nazarene trimmed the deficit to five with 6:22 on the clock as Vickers nailed a three-pointer, 52-47.

The Lions pulled to within three on a layup by Greer with 4:06 left to play, 54-51.

Curry sank five free throws on 10 attempts in the final 1:10 of the game to wrap up the victory.

The Lions finished with a field-goal percentage of 37.3% while connecting on 38.1% of their attempts from long distance. The Colonels shot 41.1% from the floor in the game and 20% from beyond the arc.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene will host league-leading University of New England Saturday, January 31.