Box Score BIDDLEFORD, Maine--Sophomore Chelsea Vujs (7 points) pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and junior Samantha McCann added 10 points, but Western New England didn't hit a field goal for the opening 5 minutes and 51 seconds in Saturday's contest as host University of New England took advantage to win, 72-42, in Commonwealth Coast Conference women's basketball action at Harold Alfond Forum. The Golden Bears fall even both on the season (4-4) and in the CCC (1-1), while the defending conference champion Nor'easters improve to 6-1 overall and 2-0 CCC.

Leading the way for Big Blue was sophomore Alanna Vose with a game-high 16 points and three steals off the bench. Classmate Lauren Hayden made 5-of-9 shot attempts to end with 11 points, and added five assists as well as four steals.

UNE scored 17 consecutive points after the opening tip, forcing six WNE turnovers as the Golden Bears also missed their first five shots from the floor. The Nor'easters never trailed during the afternoon.

UNE dominated the first half by assuming a cushion of as many as 27 points, 37-10, with six minutes left in the period on the way to a 42-16 advantage at the break. While the Nor'easters connected on 46 percent of their field goal tries, they limited WNE to 29 percent (7-of-24) from the floor. The hosts also forced 16 Golden Bear turnovers, which it turned into 25 points going the other way.

Western New England played a little better in the second half, shooting better than UNE from the field despite being outscored 30-26 for the final 20 minutes.

UNE used its size advantage to outrebound WNE by a 43-33 margin, getting 14 second-chance points to 2 for the Golden Bears. Alicia Brown led the Nor'easters with nine rebounds.

For the game, UNE capitalized on 22 WNE turnovers into 33 points.

Both squads are now off until 2014. The Golden Bears travel to Fitchburg State for a non-conference game on Thursday, Jan. 2 (7 p.m.).The Nor'easters resume their schedule on two days later (1 p.m.) with a CCC road date against Endicott.

(Editor's note: University of New England Sports Information contributed to this game recap.)