Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Western New England overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half and then the Golden Bears' defense held Nichols to 18 points in the second to steer past the Bison, 58-51, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference women's basketball game on Thursday at the Alumni Healthful Living Center field house. The host Golden Bears won their third in a row to climb to 8-2 on the season, including 3-1 in the CCC, while the Bison dip 4-7 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
Sophomore
Sammie Battaini came off the bench to pace the Golden Bears with 12 points and senior captain
Sam McCann matched her scoring total on 6-of-11 from the field. The team had good offensive balance as four other players had at least eight points: sophomores
Sammie Olson,
Emily Anderson with nine apiece and junior
Chelsea Vujs, freshman
Dorothy O'Neill with eight each.
Amber Litwinko paced Nichols with a game-best 19 points as she was the only Bison in double figures.
Nichols raced to a 17-6 lead with 13 minutes and 44 seconds remaining in the first half. Vujs, however, hit a jumper to spark a 15-2 run over the next 5:11 to help WNE take its first lead of the night, 21-19. The Bison responded with eight consecutive points to take a 27-21 advantage with 5:47 left. But the Golden Bears had an answer again to end the half on an 13-6 surge to go up 34-33 at the intermission.
For most of the second half, the teams played evenly with neither gaining more than a one-possession lead. Western New England began to pull away after Anderson sank a turnaround jumper and McCann made a layup for a 53-47 cushion with 1:50 to go. The Bison couldn't get any closer than five points after that.
After allowing Nichols to shoot 50.0 percent (15-30) of its field goals in the first half, WNE held the Bison to just 36.0 percent (9-25) in the second when they recorded just 18 points.
Alexis Wegrzynek (8 points, 4 assists, 4 blocked shots) pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds to help Nichols control the glass, 39-34. For the Golden Bears, Vujs had nine and Anderson and McCann both claimed six rebounds.
Western New England had a decided bench advantage, outscoring the Bison reserves 21 to 10.
Western New England is back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday while playing on the road against Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy for a CCC matchup.
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