Seahawks close Colonels' season with 56-49 quarterfinal victory

NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University sophomore Meaghan Harden (Sandwich, Mass.) scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to lead her team to a 56-49 victory over Curry College in the 2014 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championships quarterfinal at Rodgers Recreation Center.

Both teams had first-half leads. Curry led by three (6-3) at 16:15; Salve Regina went ahead, 8-6,  three minutes later following Marissa Pendergast's (Medfield, Mass.) layup. The Seahawks never trailed after that basket.

The Colonels scored 10 of their 19 first-half points in the paint, but both teams shot under 26 percent from the floor (Curry - 25.8%; Salve Regina - 21.9%). Senior Lisa Bucci (Irvington, N.Y.) came off the bench to score six points on two 3-pointers in the opening period.

Salve Regina led by as many as seven (15-8 at 8:55) in the first stanza, but Curry clawed back with second-team all-conference guard Kylie Beltz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) scoring a couple of baskets. Jeanette Fallon (Nashua, N.H.) led the Colonels with six points at the break. Salve Regina led by four, 23-19, as the teams went to intermission.

Pendergast converted a three-point play to begin the second-half scoring. Salve Regina had doubled its first-half output in the second frame with 8:14 to go after a Harden layup made the score 47-27.

Bucci's third 3-pointer of the game gave the Seahawks their largest lead (23 points) at 6:49. Curry outscored Salve Regina, 20-4, the rest of the way.

Pendergast and Harden, both first team all-conference selections, finished with double-doubles. For Pendergast (13 points, career-high 16 rebounds), it was her team-leading 12th double-double of the season, allowing her to maintain double-figure averages in both categories.

Beltz led the Colonels with 17 points while Fallon finished with 11 points. The lone Curry senior, Ashley Assarian (Chicopee, Mass.), ended her collegiate career with a five-point performance before fouling out.

Junior forward Brianna Del Valle (Belchertown, Mass.), a third team all-conference selection, had 11 rebounds as Salve Regina dominated on the boards, 55-25.

Last year's finalists - University of New England and Salve Regina - will meet in a semifinal on Thursday in Biddeford, Maine. The top-seeded Nor'easters, who swept the season series including an overtime victory in Newport, won last year's final at home, 69-63.