Harden clinches Seahawk comeback against Colonels with jumper in final minute

MILTON, Mass. – Curry College fell to visiting Salve Regina University, 75-73, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action Saturday afternoon in Milton, Mass. The loss drops the Colonels to 7-10 overall and 4-6 in conference play. With the win the Seahawks improve to 7-10 on the season and 6-4 in CCC play.

The teams battled back and forth in the first quarter trading baskets on either end with Salve Regina only getting an eight point advantage as their biggest separation. From that point on, Curry went on an 8-4 run over the last three minutes of the quarter to cut their deficit to 25-22.

The Colonels started the second quarter with an 11-0 run over the first four minutes to get to a lead of 33-25 after senior Shannon Griffith (West Hartford, Conn.) made a layup. The Seahawks responded with a 7-0 run of their own before trading baskets on consecutive possessions to bring the score to 35-34 in favor of Curry. The Colonels ended the last two and a half minutes on another 8-4 run starting with junior Alyssa Keeney (Coventry, Conn.) making her free throw after being fouled on a three-point attempt to bring the score to 39-34. Senior Kerry White ended the scoring in the half and the run by hitting both of her free-throw attempts to bring the halftime score to 46-38.

Griffith scored 12 points, tying the game-high, while adding a team-high three rebounds. Keeney was right behind with 10 first half points and freshman Emily Irwin (Billerica, Mass.) was right behind her adding nine points, four assists and a pair of steals.

Senior Meaghan Harden (Sandwich, Mass.) also scored 12 points for Salve Regina while grabbing a game-high four rebounds as well. Freshman Tara Burke (Londonderry, N.H.) followed closely with seven points and three boards.

The teams continued to trade baskets throughout the third quarter but Curry was still able to create separation on the score board and went into the final frame up by a score of 62-53.

The fourth quarter was much of the same at the start, with both teams trading baskets through the first four minutes of the quarter. Deiorio complete a three-point play with 3:57 to go after hitting her foul shot after a successful layup to put the Colonels up by ten points. Over the next three minutes, the Seahawks went on an 11-0 run to take the lead by a point by a score of 72-71 with freshman Kerri Beland (Attleboro, Mass.) splitting two free-throws down the middle.

White went to the line with 19 seconds to go and hit both of her free-throws to put Curry back up by a point. After a Salve Regina timeout, Harden buried a jumper to retake the lead with only 11 seconds left. The Colonels got back down to the other end of the court, but turned the ball over on a traveling violation and the Seahawks went onto win by a score of 75-73.

Curry was led by Griffith who finished with 18 points and a team second-best six rebounds. Keeney was right behind with 16 and Deiorio followed with 15 while adding four assists. Irwin put up 12 points and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds and chipped in six assists and four steals.

Harden led the game with 22 points for Salve Regina, and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while adding four assists. Sophomore Allyson Esielionis (Shirley, Mass.) scored a team second-best 12 points and Burke followed closely with 11 and added a game-high eight rebounds as well.

Both teams return to conference action Wednesday evening as the Colonels travel to Eastern Nazarene for a 7 p.m. tip-off, while the Seahawks host Roger Williams University for a 5:30 p.m. start.