Box Score NEWPORT, R.I.--Playing arguably its best first-half of basketball this season, Western New England used a strong start to cruise to a convincing 64-48 win over host Salve Regina in a Commonwealth Coast Conference women's contest on Tuesday at the Rodgers Recreation Center. The Golden Bears avenge a 66-55 home loss to Salve last month to improve to 15-9 overall and 10-7 in the CCC, while the Seahawks dip to 12-12 and 9-8.

Reigning CCC Rookie of the Week Dorothy O'Neill (5 assists) led a balanced WNE offensive attack with 14 points, followed by senior captain Sam McCann, sophomore Emily Anderson with 13 apiece and junior Chelsea Vujs posted 11. Sophomore Sammie Battaini came off the bench to pump in nine points in just nine minutes on the court.

Salve's Meaghan Harden led all scorers with 15 points and Jillian Woodward contributed 11 off the bench.

Western New England shot a blistering 80.0 percent (8-10) from the 3-point arc as part of a 50.0 clip overall (14-28) from the field in the first half, taking a 38-24 advantage into the locker room. Salve Regina allowed its most first-half points (38) of the season at home.

Anderson hit a 3-pointer and McCann made a layup to give WNE a 5-0 advantage before Harden canned a 3ball of her own to cap an 8-2 run that gave the Seahawks their only lead of the game, 8-7, at the 17:23 mark.

On the ensuing possession, O'Neill drained a trey to give the Golden Bears back the lead 10-8 and an Allyson Esielionis (7 points) jumper tied it.

Olson scored on a layup after Vujs kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound to make it 12-10, and WNE would never relinquish the lead after that.

In the second half, WNE maintained its double-digit lead it enjoyed at the intermission--pushing it to as many as 20 points with a Battaini trey at the 13:28 mark.

Salve held a 39-36 rebounding advantage as Brianna Del Valle had six rebounds. Vujs completed the double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds, plus she had five assists to go along with four steals. Vujs is the only player averaging a double-double in the CCC with 10.1 rebounds and 10.3 points.

For the game, WNE shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the field and 47.6 (10-21) from 3-point range while holding Salve to 29.8 percent overall (17-57).

Western New England will close the regular season on Saturday at CCC rival Endicott in Beverly, Mass., starting at 3 p.m. Salve Regina will be at third-place Curry that afternoon.

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