Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Dec. 8) – The Nichols College women's basketball team fell in a fast-paced game to visiting Suffolk, 52-37, Thursday evening in the Nichols Athletics Center. Suffolk improves to 6-2, while the Bison dip to 1-6.
The two teams combined for 45 turnovers and 31 steals in the aggressive end-to-end game, but lackluster shooting by the home team created only 18 points off the Rams' 27 turnovers and laid waste to the Bison's 21 hard-fought steals. Suffolk, meanwhile, shot 44% from the field and parlayed the Bison's 18 turnovers into 25 points.
Suffolk held a slim rebounding advantage at 39-30, but saw many of its 30 defensive boards get stripped on the breakout or on three backcourt calls throughout the game.
Senior forward Mary Garon and junior guard Jacqueline Vienneau each scored 13 points for the Rams, while first year forward Tori Brillaud pulled down seven rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
Nichols senior forward
Chelsea Shaughnessy led the Bison's defensive efforts with eight steals, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, while dishing three assists and scoring four points. A balanced scoring attack saw every Nichols player score at least a point and collect at least one rebound, including six points and a pair of rebounds from senior forward
Emily Yourie, who played a strong game off the bench.
It took more than five minutes for the game's first points to go on the board, courtesy of a Vienneau jumper that gave the Rams the lead they never relinquished. A
Sarah Whitestone jumper a minute and a half later put Nichols on the board, and a Shaughnessy steal and layup brought the Bison within one with five to go in the half. But that was all Nichols would get in the stanza as Suffolk went on an 11-0 run to close the half with a 24-12 lead in hand.
Nichols used a
Hannah Nolan three-pointer to spark a streak that brought them within four by the five-minute mark of the second half, but that was as close as they would get. Vienneau capped a 14-2 Suffolk run to give the Rams a 16-point lead with under nine to go, and later a pair of Marisa Cataldo free throws pushed Suffolk ahead to its largest lead of the game at 48-31.
The Bison got hot in the final minutes, scoring three straight hoops, but a missed three-pointer with 10 seconds left saw Suffolk run the ball down and sink a final layup with two ticks on the clock for a 52-37 final.
Nichols closes out the semester on Saturday at home in a 1 p.m. game against Connecticut College. Suffolk travels to Endicott Saturday for a 3 p.m. game.
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