Box Score

BEVERLY, Mass. - Senior Hayley Zophin (Framingham, Mass.) recorded her seventh double-double of the season in Nichols College's 63-41 loss at Endicott College in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Tuesday evening at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Zophin led the Bison (4-6, 1-3 CCC) in both points (21) and rebounds (17), and was the only Nichols student-athlete to reach double figures in scoring. She sank 11 of her 14 free throw attempts in 36 minutes of action.

Junior Samantha Crough (Cohasset, Mass.) paced the Gulls (8-3, 4-0 CCC) with 20 points in 20 minutes while sophomore Kayleen Whall (Foxboro, Mass.) scored 11 of her 18 points from the  charity stripe. Endicott forced 24 turnovers and recorded assists on 15 of its 22 field goals.  

The Gulls jumped out to a 15-2 lead halfway through the first half. They extended their lead to 24-6 at the 4:30 mark of the opening stanza following a layup by junior Julie Manning (Hull, Mass.), who had eight points - six of them in the first half.
 
Endicott opened the second half on a 13-3 to stretch its lead to a game-high 25 at 44-19. The Gulls held that advantage until the midway mark of the second half at 51-26, but Nichols would not go away quietly. The Bison went on a 14-
2 run, with 10 points by Zophin and some nice work by sophomore Alexis Wegrzynek (Wilbraham, Mass.), who had a steal, an assist and a layup during the run.
 
The Gulls shut the door with an 8-1 run to close the game. Junior Ashley Walenta (Plainfield, Conn.) led the reserves down the stretch with four points, three steals, three assists and six rebounds.
 
Overall, Endicott shot 36 percent from the field while Nichols converted just 27 percent of its shots. Neither team was prolific from outside, though, as the Gulls went 3-12 from downtown while Nichols made just one of six attempts.
 
Senior Natalie Wilson (Bedford, N.H.) added seven points off the bench for the Bison and hit their only three-pointer of the evening. Wegrzynek had three steals to lead the visitors, while junior Kasey Pelletier (Dunstable, Mass.) led all players with four assists.
 
Nichols hosts Eastern Nazarene Thursday at 7:30 p.m. while Endicott heads to Wentworth for a 5:30 p.m. contest.

Contributions from Endicott sports information