BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) recorded her second straight and ninth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's basketball team snap a 23-game home losing streak against Salve Regina with a 57-53 win in Commonwealth Coast Conference action.
The Leopards, who had never beaten the Seahawks at home, improve to 5-14 overall and 3-9 in CCC play while Salve Regina falls to 11-8 (8-4).
Salve Regina scored the game's first four points with baskets from seniors Brianna Del Valle (Belchertown, Mass.) and Meghan Harden (Sandwich, Mass.). Wentworth used a 5-0 spurt to take a 5-4 lead on a freshman Courtney McCormick (Hanson, Mass.) 3-pointer with 16:39 remaining.
The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the opening stanza with neither team holding more than a two point lead until freshman Mary Eden's (South Kingstown, R.I.) 3-pointer with 15 seconds left broke a 24-all tie and gave the Seahawks a 27-24 edge at the break.
Neither team shot well over the first 20 minutes with Salve Regina shooting 32.3 percent from the floor and Wentworth shooting 25.9 percent. The first half featured eight ties and a dozen lead changes.
A pair of Harden free throws gave the visitors a 31-27 lead with 14:11 left, however Wentworth stormed back by using a 9-0 run and took a 36-31 lead on a freshman Riselly Deoleo (Manchester, N.H.) fast break layup with 11:29 left.
Trailing by five with 10:37 left, the Seahawks used a 6-0 spurt to take a 39-38 lead on a Harden layup before junior Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) buried a three with 5:24 left, which gave Wentworth a 41-39 edge. Harden tied the game up with a basket 25 second later before Rogers would score four of Wentworth's next six points, which started a 11-2 run and gave the Leopards a 52-43 lead with 1:52 left.
Salve Regina used an 8-2 run and cut the lead to just three with 21 seconds left after Harden drained a three. Rogers hit one of two free throws to make it a four-point game with 19 seconds left and, on the ensuing inbounds pass, Camara picked off a long pass, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
Freshman Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) scored 10 points in the win with Camara scoring nine points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Deoleo and McCormick had eight each. The Leopards held the Seahawks to 25 percent shooting in the second half and 28.2 percent for the contest.
Harden led all scorers with 25 points to go along with five rebounds. Del Valle had a double-double as she scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds.
Wentworth is at league-leading University of New England on Tuesday while Salve Regina is at Endicott that same night.
