DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 13) –The Nichols College women's basketball team used a balanced defensive effort, combining for 22 steals to defeat Eastern Nazarene, 77-65, in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference game Saturday afternoon. Nichols improves to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in conference action, while the Lions dip to 8-15 overall and 2-9 in league play.

The Bison forced 29 Lions turnovers and parlayed them into 32 points in the game. Senior Lyndsey Bennett (No. Brookfield, Mass.) and first year Kristina Lindgren (Sturbridge, Mass.) each had five steals, while Bennett and senior Alena Jasinski (Canton, Conn.) were the top playmakers for Nichols with six assists apiece. Junior forward Jessica Nelson (No. Providence, R.I.) scored 15 points while Bennett had 11. Chelsea Shaughnessy (Halifax, Mass.) led the Bison with six rebounds.

For the Lions, Jessica Schoppee paced the offense with 15 points to go with six rebounds, while first year forward Shardae Brown finished just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Senior Christine Tucker added 11 points , six rebounds and six assists.

The teams traded the lead in the very early going, but Nichols used a 12-4 run to hold an 18-point lead at the 10:51 mark on a Bennett jumper. The Lions capitalized on Bison turnovers on the next three possessions to cut the deficit to nine with 8:24 left, but Nichols pulled away through the remainder of the frame while holding the visitors to just five points to maintain a 29-point margin headed into the break.

The Bison edged ahead to a 31-point lead on a Nelson jumper under the hoop early in the second, highlighting one of Nichols' 42 points in the paint on the day. The Lions, however, slowly chipped away at the home team's lead, cutting it down to 10 on a Schoppee jumper with 3:21 left to play. Schoppee scored 14 of her 15 on the day in the second half.

Eastern Nazarene won the rebounding race, claiming a 43-32 advantage, including a 30-22 lead on the defensive glass. Nichols was sent to the free throw line 27 times on the afternoon, but could only manage 12 points from the stripe. The Lions, meanwhile, converted 11 of 19 free throw attempts.

Nichols continues its homestand on Wednesday in an 8 p.m. TCCC game against Regis. Eastern Nazarene travels to Salve Regina on Wednesday in an 8 p.m. conference game.  

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