#3 Women's Basketball Punches Ticket to CCC Championship Game with a 66-49 Win Over #7 Endicott

#3 Women's Basketball Punches Ticket to CCC Championship Game with a 66-49 Win Over #7 Endicott
February 26, 2015

MILTON, Mass. - The third-seeded Curry College Women's Basketball Team punched its ticket to the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship Game with a 66-49 semi-final win over seventh-seeded Endicott on Thursday night in Milton. The Colonels (17-10) will travel to #1 seed the University of New England on Saturday for the 2:00 p.m. title game.

Curry raced out to a 17-point (24-7) first-half lead when freshman Nicole Rice (Woburn, Mass.) hit a jumper at 8:14. The Gulls cut the lead to 24-13 after back-to-back layups by freshman Gabriella Coppola (Watertown, Mass.). The hosts re-established a 17-point cushion at 5:25 when a free throw by senior Jeanette Fallon (Nashua, N.H.) made the score 30-13. Junior Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.) notched Endicott's final points of the opening frame at 3:41 with a layup that made the score 32-19 in favor of the Colonels. A free throw by senior Kylie Beltz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) with 19 seconds on the clock made the score 33-19 heading into the break.

Endicott (12-15) scored the first four points of the second half to pull within 10 at 33-23, but that would be as close as the Gulls would get, as Curry maintained and built upon its double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest. Junior Shannon Griffith (West Hartford, Conn.) scored 10 of her game-high 21 points in the second half. Senior Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) led Endicott over the final 20 minutes with nine points.

Griffith was also the game's high rebounder, pulling down 11 boards to record the double-double. Double-digit scoring contributions came from both Beltz and Fallon with 12 points apiece. Beltz also had nine rebounds and four assists.

The Gulls were led by Cuddy with a team-high 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Whall chipped in with nine points, while junior Nicole Catizone (Woburn, Mass.) was right behind with eight.