BEVERLY, Mass. – The sixth-seeded Curry College women's basketball team battled the third-seeded Endicott Gulls in the quarterfinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) tournament on Tuesday evening, but came up short, by a score of 82-43. After the loss, the Colonels close the year with an overall record of 6-20. The Gulls improve to 16-10 on the year and will advance to the next round on Thursday.

After recently meeting in their final regular season games, the Colonels and Gulls met once more in the opening round of the postseason. Despite leading at halftime in their previous tilt, Curry saw their hosts open this game with 15 consecutive points, putting the Colonels in an early hole. After over six minutes had come off the clock, the visitors notched their first points of the day, but due to the Gulls' fast offensive start, faced a 20-6 deficit heading into the second.

Curry continued to be stifled by Endicott's defense, as the score moved to 28-10 with five minutes to play in the first half. Despite their early scoring struggles, the Colonels scored on each of their final three possessions of the half, outscoring the Gulls 8-2 in that span and cutting the lead back down to 14 at 34-20 as the teams entered the intermission.

Out of the break, the Colonels brought a lull over the home crowd, as they cut the lead in half over the opening three minutes of the third frame. Out of a timeout, however, the Gulls scored seven straight to bring the score to 43-29. Back-to-back buckets kept Curry close, but their hosts closed the stanza on a 12-2 run, which stretched the lead to 20 points.

Despite hanging with their hosts for much of the contest, the Endicott scoring in the fourth proved to be too much for the Colonels to overcome. Nearly six-and-a-half minutes into the quarter, the Gulls' lead reached 26 for the first time on the evening at 69-43. Just two minutes later, the scoring parade had made it a 34-point advantage at 77-43. As time wound down, the Colonels' final points of the season came from their lone senior and captain Alexa Galluci (North Stonington, Conn.), who knocked down a pair of three-pointers on consecutive possessions to lead the team in points in the frame. However, it would not be enough to move on, as Endicott secured their quarterfinal victory by a final score of 82-43.

Kristyanna Remillard (Abington, Mass.) topped Curry's scorers with 11 points off the bench, while Gina Coote (Dedham, Mass.) led the team in rebounds with nine. Olivia Duncan (Essex Junction, Vt.) grabbed 12 boards for Endicott and shared the team-lead in assists with Kaleigh Putnam (Wallingford, Conn.), as they each registered four helpers. Putnam, who was recently named to the All-CCC First Team, drove the Endicott offense in the victory with a game-high 25 points.

With the win, the Gulls will travel to face Roger Williams, the second seed, in the semifinal round on Thursday, February 27 at 6:00 p.m. During the regular season, the teams split their two meetings, with the latter going into overtime.

The Colonels' season comes to an end, but the team will look forward to a bright future. After losing both of their top two scorers a season ago and overcoming obstacles throughout this year, Curry women's basketball will lose just one senior this offseason, while returning a strong core of talented young players, including a pair of captains in Coote and Ellie Holler (Hingham, Mass.).

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