Box Score

BOSTON -- The University of New England women's basketball team compiled a 39-5 stretch in the 2nd half to surge past Wentworth Institute of Technology to a 70-48 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory on Tuesday evening (Jan. 6) at Tansey Gymnasium.

It was the 13th consecutive win over the Leopards for Big Blue (6-2), which improves to 3-0 in CCC play. WIT falls for the fourth straight outing back to 3-8 overall (1-3 CCC).

The Nor'easters were paced by junior Alanna Vose, who dropped in 20 points (15 after halftime) with all five of her field goals coming from behind the three-point arc. First-year guard Sam MacDonald came off the UNE bench and posted a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Meghan Gribbin added nine points (all in the 2nd) to go with five assists and three steals. Sophomores Brooke Flaherty and Alicia Brown ended with eight points apiece, while Flaherty's nine boards helped the visitors secure a 46-34 advantage on the glass.

Carly Rogers led Wentworth with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Three players -- Kellie Messer, Riselly Deoleo, and Courtney McCormick -- each contributed eight points.

Trailing 33-27 with a little more than five minutes gone in the final stanza, UNE scored nine unanswered points to grab the lead for good. The middle of the run included a pair of treys from junior Lauren Hayden.

After a Leopards basket, back-to-back triples from Vose and Gribbin pushed the cushion up to 42-35, and the Nor'easters followed with spurts of 14-2 and 10-1 to assume full control (66-38) entering the latter stages of the contest.

Big Blue shot 48 percent in the closing period and made 7-of-12 from deep to recover from connecting on just 17 percent of its field goal tries in the opening half.

Wentworth scored the first nine points of the contest before UNE got on the board with seven minutes gone. The Nor'easters managed to tie things at 15-all with 2:36 left before intermission, but the Leopard tallied the next six and held a 21-19 edge at the break.

UNE took its first lead of the night (23-21) with the initial two hoops of the 2nd frame.

The Nor'easters return home on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) to face Salve Regina University, while WIT visits Eastern Nazarene College the same day.