BEVERLY, Mass. – Curry College junior Kylie Beltz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) netted her 1,000th career point but the Colonels fell at Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opponent Endicott on Saturday afternoon, 78-47. Sophomore Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) led Endicott in scoring posting 17 points.The Gulls improve to 17-6 (12-4 CCC) while Curry falls to 13-10 (9-7 CCC).
The first half was controlled by Endicott as they held the Colonels to just 20 points while scoring 43 of their own. Cuddy and senior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.) each earned 10 points while Manning also crashed the boards with six rebounds. The Gulls were perfect from the line while holding Curry to just one trip to the charity stripe.
In the opening minutes Endicott went on an eight-point run to take an early 10-2 lead. Junior Christina Deiorio (Stoughton, Mass.) broke the run with a quick jumper to get within six. Junior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) came in off the bench and answered Deiorio with back-to-back layups which were followed by a trey from Cuddy making it a 17-6 game.
Endicott carried on going on another run scoring 12-straight points led by Manning with six points. Junior Samantha Corcoran (Hampton, N.H.) would not let up as she came back with back-to-back jumpers. Junior Katelyn Wright (Sudbury, Mass.) hit a jumper from long range off a crisp pass from Manning to take an 18 point lead with 6:40 remaining in the first half. In the final minutes senior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass) shot for six straight points followed by a couple good free throws from Cuddy to end the half on top 43-20.
The second half was a closer contest as the Colonels were only outscored by eight points with help from Beltz who earned her career 1,000th point at the 6:57 mark after going 2-2 from the charity stripe. The Gulls spread the wealth in the second half as every single player on the roster saw playing time.
To open up the half Crough hit her first jumper from long range of the night off a nice pass from senior Sarah Robinson (Norwich, Vt.). Deiorio answered back scoring six consecutive points making it a 52-26 score in Gulls favor. Endicott went on to score seven unanswered points being topped off by an and-one by Cuddy in the paint.
The Colonels went on a small run starting at the 11 minute mark as they outscored Endicott 14-6 with five minutes remaining in the game. Seniors Robinson and Shannon Quinn (Exeter, N.H.) would not let the dry spell for the Gulls last for long as they hit back-to-back jumpers from downtown to take a 71-44 lead. After three minutes of no points from either side freshman's Rasa Hamel (Barkhamstead, Conn.) and Francheska Ventura (Lawrence, Mass.) closed out the game with a combined five points to secure the 78-47 lead.
Endicott will take the court next on Tuesday February 18 when they host Wentworth at 7:30 p.m. Curry returns home on Tuesday to host the University of New England at 5:30 p.m. (Recap courtesy of Endicott Sports Information)
