Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior captain
Amber Litwinko (Berlin, Conn.) scored her 1,000th career point in Nichols College's 45-41 loss to Wentworth Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) conference women's basketball action at the Nichols Athletic Center.
Classmate and fellow captain
Alexis Wegrzynek (Wilbraham, Mass.) led the Bison with 12 points and four assists while Litwinko filled the stat sheet with seven points, a team-high 12 rebounds, three steals, and two assists. The other two Nichols' seniors –
Sarah Whitestone (Dalton, Mass.) and
Kylie-blu Crawford (West Dover, Vt.) – finished with nine and three points, respectively.
Junior Rachael Camara (Fall River, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 12 points and 14 boards to pace the Leopards (7-18, 5-13 CCC), who earned the No. 8 seed in the CCC Tournament and will face top-seeded UNE Tuesday at 7 p.m. Classmate Carly Rogers (Scarborough, Maine) tallied 14 points, eight boards, and three dimes.
Wentworth led 24-16 at halftime behind eight points from freshman Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) and seven from classmate Riselly Deoleo (Manchester, N.H.). Seven different student-athletes scored for Nichols in the opening 20 minutes, led by Wegrzynek with three. Litwinko dropped in her 1,000th career point on a free throw with 15 seconds left in the half.
The Leopards pushed their lead to 12 early in the second half before a 12-2 run from the Bison made it a one possession game at 32-30. Litwinko, Whitestone, and freshman
Allison Cerrato (Rockland, Mass.) each score four during the run.
Wentworth answered with a 7-0 run of its own to open up a 39-30 lead with 5:59 on the clock before baskets from Crawford and Whitestone cut the Bison deficit to three. The Leopards went back up eight with two minutes to go, and one more time, the Bison got to within one possession, this time courtesy of five-straight points from Wegrzynek.
The Leopards held a 44-41 lead when Litwinko stole the ball and gave the Bison a chance to tie the game with less than a minute remaining in regulation. They did not get off a shot and, at the other end, Camara made a pair from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Nichols finishes its season 6-19 (3-15 CCC).
