SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 6, 2024) – The Western New England women's basketball team cruised to a Commonwealth Coast Conference victory on Tuesday night, defeating the Fighting Scots of Gordon College by a final score of 66-31. Emma Kahn led WNE with 12 points, while Shaina Cooney finished with 11 points and five rebounds in the win.

Records:

• Western New England: 17-5, 11-3 CCC
• Gordon College: 4-18, 3-10 CCC

How it Happened:

Shaina Cooney opened the game with the first bucket for the Golden Bears as Western New England looked to continue their winning ways on home court, where they are 8-3 this season coming into tonight's action. Emma Novajasky gave the Golden Bears their first lead of the night after a driving layup to the pain. Gordon would come around and take their biggest lead of the quarter at three points after Ami Rivera got to the paint and scored a layup, giving the Fighting Scots a 7-4 lead. With 3:17 remaining in the first quarter, Cooney dropped her first three-point shot of the season, giving the Golden Bears a 9-7 lead. From there, Western New England would take over the contest, seeing Emma Kahn and Caitlyn Hunt get in on the scoring party as WNE took a 14-10 lead after the first ten minutes of the contest.

An 8-0 run opened the second quarter for Western New England after Paige Winter got the scoring started in the quarter with a layup. Lilly Hedge's deep three-ball with 6:19 to play in the quarter gave the Golden Bears their first double-digit lead of the game, as Hedge would score seven straight for the Golden Bears in the quarter to take a 15-point lead at 25-10. A 7-2 run for Western New England would close the first half with Colleen Furlong sinking a jumper while Emma Kahn scored five for the Golden Bears, seeing WNE lead 32-14 at the break. WNE outscored Gordon 18-4 in the quarter.

More of the same would come out of the second half, as the Golden Bears would take control of the half to come away with the victory. The Golden Bears would come away with 18 points in the third quarter, while Gordon would continue to fall behind, seeing their deficit grow to 20 points when Shaina Cooney got back on the scoreboard with a layup. Abby Marasco would end the quarter with a jumper that gave the Golden Bears their biggest lead of the game, a 28-point lead, 50-22.

Caeli Fitzpatrick opened the fourth quarter with a three, which gave Western New England a 30-point lead, their largest of the night. Western New England's offense would click on all ends in the fourth quarter, seeing buckets from Caitlyn Hunt, Sophie Hedge, Abby Marasco, and Hannah Blake as Western New England would shoot 44% from the field as a team, which included dropping seven threes in the win to improve to 11-3 in the conference, defeating Gordon by a final score of 66-31.

Inside the Lines:

• Both Emma Kahn and Shaina Cooney sat in double figures for Western New England, combining for 23 points on the night.
• 13 different Golden Bears recorded points on the night, with the WNE bench recording 28 total points.
• Western New England shot 50% from the field in the third quarter, dropping all shots from inside three-point range.
• The Golden Bears were a perfect 2/2 from distance in the fourth quarter.
• WNE outrebounded Gordon 41-35 in the win.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE heads to Endicott College on Saturday, February 10 at 1:00 pm for a CCC battle.