Seahawks clinch seventh seed with win in final regular season game

NEWPORT, R.I. (February 22, 2020) - Salve Regina University senior Torie Scorpio (Cranston, R.I.) recorded her second double-double of the season (game-highs with 28 points and 10 rebounds) to lead the Seahawks to a 65-54 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in the final regular season women's basketball game of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). Salve Regina (4-21, 4-12) clinches the seventh and final spot in the league's postseason that gets underway on Tuesday with three quarterfinal games each at the site of the higher seed. The Leopards close their 2019-20 campaign 8-17 overall and 1-15 against CCC foes to finish on the outside of the playoffs.

Molley Duclos (Greenfield, Mass.) and Erin Morton (Norway, Maine) staked the visitors to an early 5-0 lead before graduate student Lauryn Becker (Hanover, Mass.) put the Seahawks on the board. After Scorpio and Kayla Kelley (Boston, Mass.) traded treys, Seahawk senior Olivia Valerio (Proctor, Vt.) connected on a short jumper in the paint to start an 8-0 run.

Salve Regina finished the first quarter with a 17-13 lead, but Wentworth scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to jump ahead by seven, 24-17. With just over a minute remaining in the first half, Scorpio hit another three and Megan Henaghan (Whitman, Mass.) later added a layup to give the Seahawks a one-point advantage at intermission.

Scorpio and Gabby Sousa (Hudson, N.H.) both hit from behind the arc midway through the third quarter as Salve Regina enjoyed a 14-5 run during a five-minute stretch. Winnie Kenou (Mattapan, Mass.) had the last Leopard field goal at 6:54 in the fourth quarter. Morton's free throws at 4:51 brought Wentworth within one (53-52), but Scorpio's fifth and final 3-pointer at 4:38 put the Seahawks on a 12-2 run to end the game.

Salve Regina held a lead after every quarter. Mary Rorke (Norton, Mass.) added 13 points for the Seahawks, plus eight rebounds, as Salve Regina had a 19-rebound advantage over Wentworth (54-35). Morton finished with 11 points and Duclos tallied 10 along with a team-high eight boards.

Scorpio's career total points (1,309) now ties her with fellow Rhode Island native Allegra Lovoy '09 for sixth-most in program history.

Salve Regina will play at the No. 2 seed up the road in Bristol, Rhode Island. A tiebreak procedure for a three-way with Roger Williams, Endicott, and University of New England (all at 12-4 on the CCC slate) was necessary. The first step of the tiebreakers is comparing the three teams in head-to-head competition. This step offered no relief as all three teams had a 2-2 record in those matchups. The teams' results against other conference opponents in rank order were then compared. Both the Hawks and Gulls earned a win against the top-seeded Golden Bears, while UNE lost both matchups, making the Nor'easters the No. 4 seed.

Roger Williams and Endicott were then treated a new tiebreaker. The teams split their head-to-head matchups and had the same records against the remaining conference teams. The next step in the tiebreaking protocol is comparing the teams' winning percentages against common non-conference opponents. MIT and Connecticut College were the two common foes. The Hawks were awarded the No. 2 seed by virtue of their 2-0 record in those games, while the Gulls went 0-2, making them the No. 3 seed.