DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Brooke Packard (Dudley, Mass.) scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Nichols College women's basketball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 79-48, in the season finale for both teams.
The Bison snap a 15-game losing streak, ending their season with a 4-21 overall record and a 2-16 mark in league play while the Leopards close out the season at 2-23.
Nichols raced out to a 16-2 lead and held Wentworth without a field goal until junior Michelle McCloskey (Madison, Conn.) hit a layup with 3:45 remaining in the opening quarter. Those were the final points of the frame for the Black & Gold as the Bison led, 20-4, after one quarter.
Packard scored her team's first 10 points of the second quarter as the hosts increased their lead to 20 (30-10). The lead swelled to as many as 24 after senior Allison Cerrato (Rockland, Mass.) hit two free throws with 3:19 remaining before freshman Erin Morton (Norway, Maine) scored Wentworth's next five points; all coming in a 5-1 spurt which made it 37-17 with 2:06 remaining in the half. Nichols led, 39-19, at the break.
Wentworth pulled within 17 on a layup from Morton midway in the third quarter, however, a 15-5 Nichols run to end the quarter gave the Bison a 58-31 after three quarters of play. Wentworth held Nichols without a field goal for the first 2:07 of the final frame and cut the lead to 22 on a junior Francesca Matira (Ledyard, Conn.) jumper 11 seconds later. Five straight Bison points pushed the lead to 27 before two free throws from senior Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) and a Matira jumper made it 66-43 with 4:439 remaining. Nichols used a 9-2 run to make it 75-45 with 1:33 left and claimed the 79-48 win.
In addition to Packard's 28 points, three other Bison scored in double figures as freshman Shannon St. Lawrence (Milton, N.H.) scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Cerrato had 17 points and nine rebounds, and freshman Beth Liang (Sparta, N.J.) finished with 10 points.
Freshman Stephanie Mini (Topsfield, Mass.) led Wentworth with 11 points and nine rebounds. Morton had 10 points, six rebounds, and five assists while Sabino had nine points and eight rebounds in her final collegiate game.
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