Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Jan. 28) – Junior guard Emily Savino scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Western New England University women's basketball team to a 65-45 Commonwealth Coast Conference triumph at Nichols Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears, winners of four of their last five, improve to 8-10 overall and 7-4 in conference games. Nichols drops its second in a row to fall to 4-14 and 3-8 in league play.

Savino had 17 at halftime, and finished the day shooting 10-for-16 and pulling down a game-high seven rebounds. Joining her in double figures for the Golden Bears was Ali Pessolano, who scored 12.

Carly Turpel  led a potent Bison bench, scoring 11 of the reserves' 22 in 20 minutes on the floor. Starter Alexis Wegrzynek  added with points, six rebounds and three assists.

The game was slow to start, but an 18-5 Western New England run spanning seven minutes erased an early Bison three-point lead and put the Golden Bears up by double-digits just past the midpoint. WNE extended it to as many as 14 before Nichols found its stride late in the half, seeing Turpel and Wegrzynek combine for nine to cut the Golden Bears' lead to nine at 30-21. A late Savino jumper, however, sent the visitors into the locker room with a 34-23 lead.

Western New England quickly extended its lead to 16, and then held the Bison to two points over an eight-minute span while rattling off 12 of their own to build up a 23-point advantage. Chelsea Shaughnessy ended the drought with a second-chance back-door layup, giving the Bison a bit of momentum with five minutes left. Nichols held Western New England to just three points from the floor in the remainder of the game – a Shelby Van Huysen trey, but time was not on their side.

Nichols outrebounded its visitors by a 35-31 margin, and used a 12-5 advantage on the offensive glass to score seven second chance points. Western New England used an up-tempo transition game to net four fast-break buckets and parlayed 22 Bison turnovers into 20 points.

Nichols returns to action Tuesday, January 31 in a 7:30 p.m. “BISON PRIDE Night” home game against Eastern Nazarene. Western New England travels to Salve Regina the same night for a 6 p.m. game.

Box Score