WENHAM, Mass. - The Gordon College women's basketball team notched its first Commonwealth Coast Conference victory of the season with a 63-56 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Scots received double-double efforts from Brooke Kratche (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and Fredi Nielsen (Bridgeport, Conn.) to break a seven-game series losing streak (spanning nearly six years) for Gordon.
Points were hard to come by over the first five minutes of the contest as both teams tried to establish good possession in the low post. Nielsen and Wentworth's Ashley Stowe (Charlestown, R.I.) battled in the paint, but open looks were few and far between. The two teams registered a combined six points in the paint in the first 10 minutes.
Skylar Bareford (Stonington, Conn.) hit one of her three triples on the afternoon to push the Scots ahead 9-6 in the early going. Mariel Barner (Colorado Springs, Colo.) extended the Scots lead only a moment later off of an outlet pass by Nielsen and made a nifty reverse layup going to her left.
The Leopards (3-6, 0-3) countered with a 3-pointer of their own to close the gap to 11-8 with 10 minutes remaining in the half. However, the Fighting Scots would go on 9-1 run over the next two minutes, capped off by a shot from behind the arc from Olivia Vetere (Mahopac, N.Y.).
The two squads traded buckets for the remainder of the half until Gordon distanced itself from Wentworth in the final 45 seconds. Barner hit a deep 3-pointer as time expired on the shot clock to give the Scots a 31-20 lead with 34 seconds to play. After a missed shot by the Leopards, Kratche took the ball the length of the floor and drained a deep two as the buzzer sounded.
Gordon looked to continue its success in the second half after shooting 45 percent from the floor in the first half. Kratche and Nielsen quickly added back-to-back layups in the first minute of the half to extend the Scots lead to 37-20.
The Leopards did their best to claw back late in the game, but they were not able to break the Scots' double-digit lead until the final minute of play. Wentworth hit a pair of shots from behind the arc in the final minute, but Nielsen and Barner nailed their free throws to ice the game for Gordon.
Kendra Kerr (Marshfield, Mass.) led all scorers in the game with 24 points. Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) scored nine points in the second half and nabbed seven rebounds. Christine Henry (Tewksbury, Mass.) added eight points in the loss. The Leopards were held to 30.8 percent shooting from the floor.
The Scots (5-5, 1-2) had a well-balanced attack with five different players scoring in double-figures. Nielsen led the way with 15 points and 14 rebounds—her fourth straight game with at least 10 points and 10 boards. Bareford finished her second highest point output of the season with 13 points. She also had four assists and two blocks.
Kratche was held to 12 points, but her 12 rebounds gave the Scots several second-chance opportunities. Barner and Vetere chipped in with 11 and 10 points apiece.
The Scots will look to get back to .500 in CCC play when they travel to Springfield to take on Western New England on Tuesday night. Wentworth will look to rebound at UNE on Tuesday night as well.
(Recap courtesy of Gordon Sports Information)
