MILTON, Mass.- The Curry College women's basketball team fell by a 65-35 final to visiting Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday afternoon at the Katz Gymnasium in Milton. With the victory the Lions improve to 17-8 overall and 10-8 in the CCC. The Colonels fall to 10-15 overall and 8-10 in conference play. Prior to the contest, Curry honored their lone senior, Amanda Gresian (Douglas, Mass.) in a special senior day ceremony.

The teams traded the first 14 points of the afternoon as the game would be tied at seven with 4:54 to go in the first quarter. Following a bucket by Emily Irwin (Billerica, Mass.) to knot the game at seven the Lions would go on a 7-0 run to lead 14-7. That deficit for the Colonels was trimmed to five before the end of the first quarter as Irwin stepped to the charity stripe and converted both shots.

The lead for the Lions would balloon back to seven after Michelle Detwiler (Elkhart, Ind.) hit a three pointer but following the basket Curry embarked on an 8-0 run to take a one point lead (21-20) with 1:36 left in the first half.

The Colonels held Eastern Nazarene scoreless for the final 2:51 and carried a 25-20 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

The Lions came out roaring in the second half, outscoring Curry 18-8 in the third quarter. Eastern Nazarene went on an 11-5 run over 6:05 in the third to take a 31-30 lead. The run was capped on a jump shot by Jaysa Cooper (Frisco, Texas) with 3:55 to go in the third stanza. 

After a layup by Irwin to tie the game at 31 the Lions would outscore the Colonels 7-2 over the final 3:37 of the third quarter. They carried a 38-33 lead into the final stanza.

The Lions continued their momentum into the fourth quarter as they would outscore Curry 27-2 on 50% shooting. Eastern Nazarene tallied the first 17 points of the frame before Gresian could halt the Lion run. The visitors closed the contest on an 8-0 run to take the contest by a 65-35 final.

Curry was led by Irwin as the sophomore posted a game-high 19 points. She shot 6-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-13 from the line while adding seven rebounds, seven steals, three assists and two blocks. Sam Bamford (Easton, Mass.) and Paige Senatore (Ayer, Mass.) contributed four points apiece while four Colonels tallied two points each to close the scoring.

Cooper and Shelby Holmes (Seeley Lake, Mont.) paced Eastern Nazarene with 14 points apiece in the victory. Kayla Torio (Manteca, Calif.), and BreAnna Fraser (Henderson, Nev.) chipped in seven points each while Bailee Smith (Plano, Texas) was the second leading scorer off the bench with six.

The Lions held the edge in shooting percentage over the Colonels, tallying 32% from the field compared to 26.1%. They also had the advantage in three point percentage, three point percentage, rebounding, turnovers, second chance points and points in the paint as well outscoring the Curry bench, 33-6.

Curry has drawn the number six seed for the upcoming CCC Tournament and will travel to number three seed Western New England on Tues. Feb. 21 for a 7:00 p.m. tip for the conference quarterfinals. Eastern Nazarene will be the number five seed and will head to Endicott on Tuesday for a 6:00 p.m. start.