SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Once the Western New England College women's basketball team solved the Suffolk University press, they were able to iron things out on their own end.

Senior center Lisa Masella (Newtown, CT) had her 30th career double double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and sophomore guard Tiffany DeRosa (Hamden, CT) contributed 10 points, including four key free throws in the final 48 seconds, to lead the Golden Bears to a hard-fought 54-50 victory over the RamsUniversity Saturday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest.

Masella also added a career high five blocks while sophomore guard Jennifer Dabrowski (Plainville, CT) netted 10 points for the Golden Bears who improved their record to 11-5 after winning for the fourth time in their last five outings. The Rams, which saw their five-game winning streak come to an end, fall to 10-7. Both teams are 2-2 in the conference.

Suffolk led 21-18 at halftime after using a strong, pressure defense that forced 20 turnovers. The Golden Bears fell behind 26-19 in the first two minutes of the second half before going on a 12-3 run to go ahead 31-29 on a jumper by Dabrowski at the 12:31 mark.

The Rams answered with five straight points for a 34-31 edge and led by two at 36-34 before Western New England College went on a 16-6 run to take its biggest lead at 50-42 when Dabrowski made another jumper with 1:25 remaining.

Sophomore guard Katlyn Klecha (Fairfield, CT) made two foul shots to bring Suffolk with 50-44 only 10 seconds later.

DeRosa, who earlier in the game drew two offensive fouls and was knocked to the floor on a hard foul while driving to the basket, then missed two free throws with 57 seconds left, but Masella grabbed a big offensive rebound. This time DeRosa connected on both charity attempts eight seconds later to put the Golden Bears ahead 52-44.

Suffolk made one final rally when junior guard Jenn Fogg (Stonington, CT) drained a pair of three-pointers at 47 seconds and again with eight seconds left before DeRosa ended the suspense with two more foul shots with six seconds remaining.

Fogg led the Rams with 15 points and junior guard Lauren Burns (Dorchester, MA) netted 11 points.

Western New England College finished with 28 turnovers, but had only eight in the second half. The Golden Bears shot 48.7% from the floor and held a 35-29 rebounding advantage while forcing 17 turnovers. WNEC only managed to make 14-of-27 shots from the foul line, but DeRosa’s clutch shooting at the end proved to be the difference. The Rams, meanwhile, were 13-of-15 from the foul line.