MILTON, Mass. – After trailing by 10 at the half, Curry College knotted the game at 43-43 with 4:23 on the clock, but fell short against visiting Western New England, 56-47, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women’s basketball action Wednesday night in Milton. The Golden Bears improve to 14-8 overall and 11-4 in league play, while the Colonels fall to 9-13 overall and 5-10 in the CCC.

WNE outscored Curry 11-2 in the first five minutes of the opening frame. Senior Shelby Van Huysen (Killingworth, Conn.) started the run with a shot from beyond the arc and classmate Emily Savino (Ellington, Conn.) capped it off with a three of her own.

With 1:28 remaining in the first period, Savino sank a pair from the charity stripe to give the Golden Bears their largest lead of the half (31-19). Sophomore Kylie Beltz (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) scored the final bucket of the half, trimming the Colonels’ deficit to 10 (31-21) heading into the break.

Curry used a 12-4 run in the middle of the second frame to tie the game at 43-43. With 13:22 remaining in regulation, Beltz converted a layup to jump-start the run, while junior Ashley Assarian (Chicopee, Mass.) later hit the game-tying three-pointer at the 4:23 mark.

Savino responded with back-to-back three-pointers to give WNE a lead it would never relinquish (49-43). Senior Elena Radzikowski (Medway, Mass.) scored all of the Golden Bears’ points over the remaining three minutes of the game, including 5-of-7 from the free-throw line.

WNE was led by Savino with a game-high 20 points. Freshman Chelsea Vujs (Berlin, Conn.) and Van Huysen chipped in with 11 and 10, respectively.  Vujs and Radzikowski pulled down seven rebounds apiece.

Beltz led the Colonels with a team-best 17 points. Sophomore Samantha Corcoran (Nashua, N.H.) recorded a game-high 11 boards, while also adding nine points.

Both teams return to CCC action at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Curry travels to Endicott, while the Golden Bears host Eastern Nazarene.