Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Sam McCann scored a team-high 13 points in her last regular-season home game to lead Western New England to a 61-52 victory Wednesday over visiting Wentworth on Senior Day in Commonwealth Coast Conference women's basketball action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center field house. With the win, coupled with Salve Regina's 56-53 loss at Eastern Nazarene tonight, the host Golden Bears (14-8 overall) trade fourth place with the Seahawks with a 9-6 CCC mark as the top four teams will host a playoff game in the upcoming conference tournament. The Leopards drop to 5-17 overall and 3-12 in the CCC.
Junior
Amanda Lopez came off the WNE bench to score 11 points while making all three of her field goal attempts, including a three-pointer, and four of five from the free throw line. Classmate
Chelsea Vujs had a solid stat line of 11 rebounds to pace all student-athletes, eight points and six assists. Freshman
Dorothy O'Neill chipped in nine points and two steals.
Freshman Riselly Deoleo poured in a career- and game-high 21 points on 10 of 12 field goal shooting before fouling out with 5 minutes and 49 seconds left, and WNE leading 50-46. Junior Carly Rogers added 16 points, including 10-for-12 from the charity stripe, to go along with six rebounds and four steals.
Deoleo scored the game's first four points before WNE went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead with 16 minutes and 22 seconds remaining in the first half. Sophomore
Sammie Olson (6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots) scored all five of her points to key the run. Deoleo and Rogers answered for Wentworth to cut the lead to one before McCann made a layup to bring the lead to three, 11-8. However, Deoleo countered with a three-pointer to tie the game at 11-all and Rogers hit two free throws to put the Leopards ahead, 13-11, at the 11:32 mark.
The teams traded points for the next several minutes before Lopez made a traditional three-point play to give WNE a 28-26 lead with 2:40 left. The Golden Bears pushed the lead to seven, 33-26, on three free throws from sophomore
Paige Young (3 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) and a layup by
Sammie Battaini (6 points, 3 assists). Anne Harris made a layin of her own to cut the deficit to 33-28 at the intermission.
Wentworth began the second half on a 6-0 run with all the points coming by Deoleo, giving the Leopards a 34-33 lead less than two minutes into the stanza. The teams traded the lead three times in a 1:58 span before O'Neill put WNE up 37-36 with 15:11 left.
Western New England took a seven-point lead 2 minutes later after junior Lopez hit a jumper, 46-39. One of two free throws from junior Rachael Camara and four points from Deoleo trimmed the lead to a pair with 8:54 remaining. The Leopards, however, were held without a field goal after that.
The Golden Bears pushed their advantage to as many as six with 5:29 remaining and, despite going without a field goal, Wentworth pulled within two on a pair of freshman Haley Sabino free throws with 3:52 left. Western New England sealed the win with a 9-0 run late in the contest.
Both teams are in action on Saturday as Western New England is at Eastern Nazarene and Wentworth hosts Roger Williams.
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