BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Nicole Rice (Woburn, Mass.) had a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to help pace the Curry College women's basketball team to a 51-40 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology in Commonwealth Coast Conference play Wednesday night.
With the win the Colonels snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 10-14 overall and 8-9 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 3-21 (1-16).
Both teams struggled offensively at the start of the game with the first points not being scored until just over three minutes had elapsed. Curry took a 5-0 lead on a three pointer from freshman Lovashia Rosario (Worcester, Mass.) and a pair of free throws from Rice. Wentworth finally got on the board with 2:33 left in the frame when sophomore Baylor Johnson (Greer, S.C.) made a layup. Freshman Emily Magasic (West Milford, N.J.) made a layup to make it 5-4 before freshman Sam Bamford (Easton, Mass.) made it 7-4 with a pair of free throws. Freshman Samantha Madden (Plainville, Mass.) beat the buzzer with a jumper to make it a one-point game (7-6) after the opening 10 minutes of play.
A 9-3 run to open the second quarter, capped off by a basket from sophomore Michelle McCloskey (Madison, Conn.) gave the Leopards a 15-10 lead with 8:27 remaining. The hosts led by five (17-12) with 4:15 left in the half on a sophomore Francesca Matira (Ledyard, Conn.) jumper, however, the Colonels got back-to-back layups from Bamford and sophomore Molly Plunkett (Quincy, Mass.) to make it a 17-16 game with 3:10 left and Bamford hit one of two free throws to tie the game with 2:06 left. Junior Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) made a jumper on the next possession which gave the Black & Gold the lead going into the locker room.
Wentworth led by as many as six on three occasions in the third quarter, including on a three pointer from freshman Sam McGibbon (Pembroke, Mass.) with 6:25 left and again after a Magasic layup with 2:17 left. Rice hit a three and Plunkett hit two free throws to cut the lead to one with 37 seconds left before Sabino hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds left, giving Wentworth a 33-31 lead.
Curry outscored the Leopards, 20-7, in the fourth quarter thanks in part to holding Wentworth to just one field goal on 13 attempts. Rosario and Rice opened the frame hitting shots to give the Colonels a 35-33 lead before Sabino hit two free throws to even the score at 35-all. A three pointer from Plunkett ignited a 9-2 run and gave Curry a 44-37 lead with 4:25 left and the Colonels, who held the Leopards without a field goal over the final 7:06, put away the win.
Plunkett also scored in double figures for Curry, scoring 11 points while Bamford and Rosario had eight points apiece. The Colonels had a 44-38 rebounding advantage and held Wentworth to 20.6 percent shooting from the floor for the game.
Sabino led the Leopards with 14 points while senior Kellie Messer had six rebounds.
Wentworth wraps up the 2016-17 campaign on Saturday at Roger Williams while Curry end the regular season at home against Eastern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.
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