Eden takes charge for Seahawk victory

BEVERLY, Mass. - The Salve Regina Seahawks played the role of heartbreakers on Valentine's Day as they defeated the Endicott women's basketball team, 61-59, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) bout Tuesday night inside MacDonald Gymnasium.

It was a battle of the birds down to the wire as junior guard Hannah Kiernan's (Wenham, Mass.) career-high/game-high 19 points wasn't enough to boost the Gulls.

Despite scoring 23 points off 18 of Salve Regina's turnovers in the game, the Gulls let a 12-point lead (30-18) with 1:52 on the clock before the half turn into a 32-24 edge at the break and watched as it slipped away heading into the fourth quarter.

This occurred in part because with an aggressive style of play, the Gulls committed roughly a quarter of their 22 fouls on the offensive side of the ball and got in foul trouble early.

Salve Regina took its first lead since the opening bucket of the game (44-43) on sophomore guard Kerri Beland's (Attleboro, Mass.) trey as the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the third quarter.

A back-and-forth final 10 minutes of action featured four tied scores before junior guard Mary Eden (So. Kingston, R.I.) drove to the hoop with five seconds remaining, drew a foul, and sequentially sunk the game-winning free throws to extend Salve Regina's win streak to four straight games.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott is 13-16 overall and 9-4 at home against the Seahawks in the all-time series. The Gulls have still won six of the past eight meetings, including a 64-60 victory on Jan. 11, 2017 earlier this season.
• Salve Regina snapped a four-game skid in head-to-head matchups against the Gulls to earn a split in the regular season series with tonight's win. Tonight's loss ended Endicott's three-game win streak.
• Junior guard Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) and junior forward Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) joined Kiernan in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Coppola grabbed a team-leading eight boards, registered a floor-leading six steals, and recorded a game-high six assists.
• Senior forward Sarah Hood (Burlington, Mass.) and Shaw each pulled down seven rebounds before fouling out with 8:06 and 4:09 remaining in the game, respectively.

FOR THE FOES

• Beland led the way with 16 points for the Seahawks.
• Freshman guard Torie Scorpio (Cranston, R.I.) and senior forward/center Jillian Woodward (Orono, Maine) chipped in 13 points apiece.
• Eden dished out a team-high five helpers to go with a game-best nine rebounds, two steals, and eight points. The junior captain also drew half a dozen offensive charges.
• The Seahawks scored 11 second-chance points compared to Endicott's four. Salve Regina also outscored Endicott, 37-27 in the second half.

WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (12-12, 11-6 CCC) concludes the regular season on Saturday, February 18 at 3:00 p.m. as the Gulls welcome Western New England University to town with the annual Senior Day recognition ceremony taking place before the game to honor Hood and senior guard Ilyza Holman (Ashland, Mass.).
Salve Regina University (9-15, 7-10 CCC) wraps up the regular season on Saturday, February 18 at 1:00 p.m. as the Seahawks host Gordon on Senior Day.