BEVERLY, Mass. – The Nichols women's basketball team cut a 32-point second-half deficit down to four, but the fourth quarter comeback would come up short as the Gulls came away with an 86-82 victory on Wednesday night at MacDonald Gymnasium. With the loss, the Bison fell to 6-13 (4-9 CCC), while Endicott jumped to 8-12 (6-7 CCC).

In the first quarter, the hosts outscored Nichols, 25-14, thanks to a 10-of-20 (50%) field goal performance from the field. Emily St. Thomas and Sarah Dempsey each added six points for the Gulls in the second stanza to help gain a 52-37 lead at the halftime break.

Endicott was efficient from the floor yet again in the third quarter as the team shot 44.4%. Kiera Fernandes added seven Nichols points in the third, but the Bison would still trail by 26 at the end of the third.

Trailing by 26 with 8:35 to go, the Bison would finally start to chip away at the deficit, going on a 21-0 run over the next 5:10 to trail Endicott by just six with 3:25 to play. Abrianna Vazquez added 11 points while the team recorded seven steals over that span. Nichols would cut it to within four multiple times over the final two and a half minutes, but Endicott would go 4-6 from the foul line in the last minute to seal the game.

Vazquez was the leading scorer for the Bison with 23 points. Freshman Kya Burdier chipped in with a career-high 15 points off the bench.

Next up for Nichols is CCC foe Suffolk on Saturday, February 4 at the Nichols Athletic Center, with the tip-off set for 1:00 p.m.