BRISTOL, R.I. (February 5, 2025) –  Down by as many as 13 in the second half, the Western New England women's basketball team used a big third quarter from Perry Blasetti to gain ground, while a bucket with just six seconds left by Shaina Cooney would take the Golden Bears past the hosting Hawks of Roger Williams University on Wednesday evening, defeating RWU 71-69.

Records:
·      Western New England: 18-1, 11-1 CNE
·      Roger Williams University: 14-5, 10-2 CNE
How It Happened:

A quick start to the game saw the two teams combine for nine quick points in the first 1:30 of the opening quarter. Roger Williams had the first hoop before Colleen Furlong found Emma Novajasky for a jumper to tie the game back up. Elizabeth Dufrane rattled home RWU's first triple of the game while Shaina Cooney drove to the cup for two as the Hawks would take a 5-4 lead after the scoring run. Novajasky picked up WNE's first lead at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter with a made layup. Roger Williams would answer with the next four points, including a Sophia Coppola three, giving the Hawks a 10-6 lead. Scoring would be sporadic for the remainder of the first quarter as Caitlyn Hunt and Lilly Hedge would get WNE back to tie Roger Williams at 12 before the Hawks would pull out the final two jumpers of the quarter to take a 16-12 lead out of the first quarter. Western New England shot 46% from the field in the first quarter but was 0/4 from deep. Roger Williams was 7/16 from the field and hit two of their eight threes.

The Hawks started off the second quarter with a bucket, moving their lead to six. Back-to-back hoops from the Golden Bears would keep Roger Williams at bay as Nora Young and Lilly Hedge would contribute on a Western New England run that tied the score at 18 with 7:35 to play. The Hawks would take exception, going on a 13-0 run, capped off by a three ball from Sophia Coppola, giving Roger Williams a 31-18 lead with 3:39 left in the quarter. Sophie Hedge launched and hit WNE's first three-ball make of the game with 3:24 to play in the second quarter, which ended up being one of two three balls that Hedge would hit in the frame. With a big deficit to climb, the Golden Bears would cut RWU's lead down to ten after one half of play after Paige Winter and Nora Young would connect from the field as the Golden Bears would trail 41-31. Western New England never held a lead in the second quarter while RWU would get their lead up to as many as 13 in the quarter. The Golden Bears shot 53% from the floor, hitting seven of their 13 field goals and hitting half of their threes, going 3/6. RWU was efficient from the floor in the second, going 9/15 overall, hitting two threes, and making five of seven free throws.

Needing to start the second half on a scoring run, Western New England would see the Hawks score the first bucket of the second half, but Emma Kahn would hit a three right away, which brought the Roger Williams lead down to single digits. The Hawks would get on the board quickly again as the red-hot offense of RWU would maintain their big lead, getting it back up to as many as 13 in the quarter. For the second straight quarter, the game would see a lull in scoring at the midway point of the quarter, but an Elizabeth Dufrane jumper plus a foul shot would get the Hawks lead to 13, forcing a timeout for Western New England. Following the timeout, the Golden Bears would show some life on both ends of the floor as Lilly Hedge would record a career high in steals to spark the Western New England defense, which led to offense on the offensive side of the floor. Perry Blasetti would nail a three-ball on an assist from Paige Winter while Hedge's sixth steal of the night would directly lead to a Blasetti layup, getting WNE within eight, 52-44 with 3:52 to play in the third. Western New England would rely on their three-ball late in the third, as Winter would splash her second of the game with 2:27 to play. Blasetti would have ten points for WNE in the third quarter, including another clutch triple that brought the Golden Bears within four, 54-50, with 1:44 to play in the third. The Golden Bears would erase RWU's 13-point lead with 5:41 to play in the quarter and would tie the game on a pair of free throws by Nora Young, moving the score to 54-all after three quarters. Western New England scored 23 points in the third, going 8/18 overall, hitting four threes. Perry Blasetti led the Golden Bears with ten points overall. WNE shot 44% from the field.

After a hot shooting third, Western New England would cool off in the fourth quarter in the early goings, not scoring a point until the 6:13 mark of the final frame. Roger Williams also had a slow offensive game to start the fourth as neither team would be able to score until Meg Qualey hit a free throw with 8:05 remaining, which gave the Hawks the lead again, 55-54. Emma Novajasky had WNE's lone hoop through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter as the Hawks took a 59-56 lead and called a timeout with 5:06 remaining in the quarter. Roger Williams would lead by as many as four with 4:32 to play as the Golden Bears would not be able to come away with a defensive stop. Sophie Hedge would hit from three with 4:20 to play to get Western New England back within one point. Meg Qualey would pick up RWU's next hoops to give the Hawks a three-point lead. The two teams would exchange blows until Emma Kahn's three would tie the game at 64 with 2:42 to play. Kahn would then pick up a rebound and get fouled, hitting two big free throws to give the Golden Bears the 66-64 lead. Lilli Clark tied the game at 66 for Roger Williams before Kahn would strike from distance again with 49 seconds to play, giving WNE a 69-66 lead. The Hawks were far from out of it as Roger Williams would go down and hit a layup and also would be fouled as Sophia Coppola would hit the free throw to tie the game at 69 with 35 seconds remaining. Needing a timeout with 16 seconds to play, Western New England would draw up a play that saw Paige Winter dish to Shaina Cooney, who connected on a jumper with six seconds remaining. The Hawks would subsequently take a timeout and draw up one final play that saw RWU's Elizabeth Dufrane miss a jumper at the buzzer, which gave the Golden Bears a thrilling 71-69 victory.

Inside the Lines:

• The Golden Bears outscored Roger Williams 40-28 in the second half to come up with a massive CNE victory. 
• Three Golden Bears were in double figures on the night, including the hero, Shaina Cooney, who dropped 11 points on the night. Emma Kahn also had 11 points while Perry Blasetti took over in the third quarter, scoring all ten of her points.
• Crooked numbers included seven steals, a career high, for Lilly Hedge on the night, who also scored eight points and had three rebounds and three assists. Paige Winter put up a career-high eight assists on the night to go along with six points, both threes.
• Nora Young provided help for Western New England on the glass, grabbing nine of WNE's 30 rebounds on the night. Young also contributed eight points and two assists.
• The Golden Bears shot 6/13 from the floor in the fourth quarter, going 3/7 from deep and hitting both of their free throws in the quarter to edge RWU.
• Four Hawks were in double figures in scoring, including their leading scorer, Sophia Coppola, who dropped 19 points on the night. Lilli Clark (14 pts.), Elizabeth Dufrane (13 pts.), and Chloe Richardson (12 pts.) all contributed heavily for the Hawks.
• RWU was decimated by their free throw showing, hitting just 13 of their 22 attempts on the night.
• WNE had defeated the Hawks in three straight meetings. This is the first win for the Golden Bears at Roger Williams since 2019 (seven games).

Up Next on the Schedule:
·      The Golden Bears travel to Nichols College on Saturday, February 8, at 5:30 PM for their next CNE contest.