Seahawks fall to Gulls, 65-48

NEWPORT, R.I. – Endicott's balanced offense lead the Gulls to a 65-48 victory over the Salve Regina women's basketball team on Tuesday at Rogers Recreation Center.

With the win Endicott improves to 15-5 overall and 10-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference, causing the Seahawks to drop 10-10 overall and 8-5 in the conference.

The Gulls lead early on with a nine point run capped off by a layup from Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.), one of the three Gulls to finish the game with double digits points. Sophomore Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) put the Gulls ahead by 13, before the Seahawks used a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to bring the lead down to 24-21. Highlighting that run was junior Brianna Del Valle (Belchertown, Mass.) contributing to half the points.

Salve Regina kept the Gulls close with a pair of layups from sophomore Meaghan Harden (Sandwich, Mass.) as the Gulls lead to 31-27 at the half.

Endicott opened the second half with a 12-2 run after a pair of free throws from Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) made it 43-29 just over five minutes into action. The Seahawks converted back to back layups from senior Lisa Bucci (Irvington, N.Y.)  and Harden to pull within 10, 43-33, but Endicott scored 10 unanswered point to lead by 20 with just over nine minutes left to play.

Senior Marissa Pendergast (Medfield, Mass.)  hit a pair of free throws before taking her second steal coast to coast for a layup to get the Seahawks within 16, 53-37, but that would prove to be the closest they would get for the remainder of the contest.

Sophomore Caity Lowry (Quincy, Mass.) hit a jumper with under five minutes to play giving Endicott its largest lead 62-39, sophomore Madelyn Brackett (Coopersville Mich.) hit the final jumper of the game with 1:35 left on the clock to bring the score to its final 65-48.

Leading all scoring was Harden with 16 points, while Pendergast added eight points and a game high nine rebounds. Sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) led the Gulls with 12 points, while Crough (11) and Manning (10) also finished in double digits. Cuddy finished with a team high seven rebounds for Endicott.

Endicott returns home to host Roger Williams on Saturday, at 1 p.m. while the Seahawks travel to the University of New England for a 1 p.m. tip.