Endicott holds off Wentworth, 66-63
Jan. 26, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott College erased a seven point halftime deficit to stay unbeaten in The Commonwealth Coast Conference, downing the visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology, 66-63, in the MacDonald Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
After trading points for the first 15 minutes of the opening half, Wentworth went on an 11-4 run that included back-to-back buckets from Meaghan Healey (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack). A pull-up jumper from Kirsten Vallone (Avon, N.Y./Avon Central) sent the visitors into the intermission with a comfortable 38-31 lead.
Emily Cring (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) gave the Leopards their largest lead of the game as she put Wentworth up 10 at 17:13 of the second. From their, Endicott raced to a 9-1 run to cut the visitors lead down to one. Junior guard Jenna Cosgrove (Sharon, Mass./Sharon) returned the advantage to the Endicott side as she dialed in from behind the arc, putting EC up 51-50.
A back-and-forth affair continued to the 6:05 mark where Ceciley Chisholm (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) knocked down a 10-footer to keep Endicott ahead by one. Neither team was able to post any points for the following three-plus minutes, as each squad's defense stepped-up to the late challenge.
Kaylin Burke (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) broke the shutout streak with a smooth jump shot, only to have her efforts thwarted by a driving lay-up from Michelle Moffo (Southington, Conn./Southington), keeping it a one possession game.
After purposely putting Nicole Duchesne (Plaistow, N.H./Central Catholic) on the line in an effort to stop the clock, Wentworth's Kirsten Vallone worked her way underneath and was fouled by Ashley Vitale (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) in the act of shooting with five seconds left in regulation. Down by three points, Vallone successfully made the first free throw to cut the lead to two. In an obvious attempt to miss the second freebie in hopes of regaining control of the ball, Vallone's toss towards the hoop took a hard bounce off the back glass and went in, effectively ending the game.
Endicott was able to inbound the ball to Kaylin Burke, who drew quick contact and sunk both free throws to ice the win for the Gulls.
Wentworth's Emily Cring scored a team-high 19 points and registered two blocks. Kirsten Vallone recorded a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the visitors.
Endicott was led by a game-high 23 points from Nicole Duchesne. Jenna Cosgrove had 10 points while Ceciley Chisholm came just one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring seven points and hauling in nine rebounds in the victory.
With the win, Endicott remains unbeaten in The Commonwealth Coast Conference with a perfect 5-0 TCCC record (10-7 overall). The Gulls take the court on Thursday night for a conference contest with Roger Williams at 8:00 pm.