Golden Bears pull away from Seahawks in fourth quarter

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 19, 2019) - Salve Regina University women's basketball took a four-point lead (34-30) when it opened the second half with a 7-0 run, but Western New England University followed with its own 10-0 run and then pulled away late in the fourth quarter to finish with a 64-52 win in quarterfinal action of the 2019 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championships. The Golden Bears (18-8) advances to face six-time defending champion University of New England which advanced as the No. 2 seed in its quarterfinal win over Gordon College.

Salve Regina (10-16) ends its season in Springfield for the third time in the last four years.

The Seahawks had tied the score, 43-43, just 91 seconds into the final period on a free throw from senior Kerri Beland (Attleboro, Mass.). A basket and two free throws from Emily Farrell put WNE up 47-43 before a Torie Scorpio (Cranston, R.I.) 3 pointer narrowed the gap to one.

Meghan Orbann, Lauren Chadwick, and Farrell scored the next five Golden Bear field goals before Tara Burke (Londonderry, N.H.) had the final bucket of the season for the Seahawks with 1:03 remaining.

Burke and Scorpio both finished with 12 points to lead Salve Regina; Beland had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.