MILTON, Mass. – Curry College outlasted visiting Eastern Nazarene, 60-54, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action Wednesday evening in Milton. It marked the opening of conference play for both teams. The Colonels improved to 3-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play, while the Lions fell to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in CCC action.

Curry ended the first quarter with a five-point lead after senior Christina Deiorio (Stoughton, Mass.) hit a three-pointer to end the scoring. The Colonels added to their lead in the second quarter then eventually settled on a six-point lead at the end of the half (33-27) after a three- pointer from junior Jessica Franco (Phoenix, Ari.) closed out the scoring.

The Colonels also out-shot Eastern Nazarene 45.2% to 36.4% with sophomore Nicole Rice (Woburn, Mass.) leading Curry with 10 points and senior Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) leading the Lions with 12.

In the third quarter, Eastern Nazarene closed the gap and brought the game to within two points with the Colonels still up 43-41. The Lions would eventually take the lead for the first time on the night after a three-pointer from junior Celina Calderon (Lompoc, Calif.) made the score 46-43 with seven and a half minutes left in the game.

Senior Kerry White (Windham, N.H.) brought the game to a 51-all tie after sinking both of her shots from the charity stripe. Freshman Emily Irwin (Billerica, Mass.) would go on to score seven-straight points for the Colonels putting the score up to 58-51. Senior Shannon Griffith (West Hartford, Conn.) iced the game by sinking both of her foul shots to make the final score 60-54.

Irwin would go on to lead the game in scoring with 19 points shooting 69.2% from the field while adding a team high five assists. Rice was right behind her with 12 points while also pulling down five rebounds. Griffith led the rebound department with six total for Curry, while chipping in another six points.

Greer led the way for the Lions in scoring 22 points on 71.4% shooting from the field. She also recorded 11 total rebounds. Junior BreAnna Fraser (Henderson, Nev.) led the game by pulling down 12 total rebounds.

Both teams return to conference action Saturday as the Colonels travel to Salve Regina University and Eastern Nazarene visits Endicott, with both contests starting at 1 p.m.