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BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Trailing by a pair entering the 4th quarter, No.6 Endicott College registered the first eight points of the stanza to turn things against No.2 University of New England and pick up a 65-56 result in the semifinals of the 2023 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Basketball Championship at Coach Beaudry's Court inside the Harold Alfond Forum on Friday evening (Feb. 24).

The Gulls improve to 13-14 on the year and earn a spot in their fourth straight league final. They will make the trip to top seed and reigning champion Roger Williams University on Sunday; the Hawks, who ran the table in the regular season, got past fifth-seeded Western New England in the other semifinal on Thursday [Interactive Bracket]. 

UNE's season comes to a close with an 18-9 ledger, bumped out of the semifinal round for the second time in as many campaigns. The Nor'easters had swept the season series versus EC for the first time since 2017-18.

Emily St. Thomas netted the initial six points of the final frame, and Libby Fleming's second hoop of the contest made it 54-48 with under six minutes to play. Kaitlyn Santos nailed a corner trey to get the hosts on the board in the 4th (54-51) [Watch], only to see Fleming hit another with 5:17 on the clock. UNE's second field goal of the period -- a three-pointer by Faye Veilleux [Watch] -- trimmed the margin to 60-56 with 1:54 remaining, but a long jumper by Sarah Dempsey late in the ensuing shot clock maintained control for Endicott.

St. Thomas had nine of her game-high 19 points in the last session, while the Nor'easters connected on just 2-of-19 shots from the floor.

Dempsey added 14 points for the visitors, and matched St. Thomas with eight rebounds as well as four steals. Taylor Bogdanski also went for 14 points, and corralled 10 boards to lead a 47-38 edge for the Gulls on the glass. Included in that margin were 19 offensive caroms, which produced 24 second-chance points. Tara Laugeni tacked on 12 points and nine rebounds.

Veilleux totaled 16 points with three steals and a couple of blocks to pace UNE. Keagan Dunbar supported with 11 points and five assists, Gabby Soter chipped in with eight points, and Mackenzie Burke didn't miss from the field en route to a season-high seven points. Juliana Tracey topped all players with a personal-best 11 rebounds.

Endicott tallied seven of the last nine in the 1st quarter to take a 17-13 lead, but yielded an 11-0 spurt to the Nor'easters in the 2nd that left the hosts up, 28-21, with 2:10 before halftime. Veilleux had five and Burke tossed in four during the stretch [Watch 19 / Watch 22 / Watch 24 / Watch 26 / Watch 28]. However, Bogdanski drilled two from downtown in the final minute -- the Gulls' only two triples of the day -- to close the gap to 32-29 at the break.

UNE scored 16 points off 13 Endicott turnovers in the first half; the visitors only lost possession of the ball six times the rest of the way.

A pair of freebies by Laugeni with 3:12 left in the 3rd briefly flipped the advantage in favor of the Gulls (40-39), as Burke immediately responded for the Nor'easters [Watch]. Two buckets in three trips from Kasey Oliver followed, giving the hosts a 45-40 cushion, but two free throws by Oliver were needed for a slim 48-46 edge at the conclusion of the penultimate period.

Through 30 minutes, UNE was shooting at a 45 percent clip, and limiting Endicott to 31 percent. Both squads wound up at 34.4 percent by the end of the night.

Dunbar wraps the season leading the Nor'easters in scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (6.0), and assists (3.5). The graduate transfer completes her basketball career with 1,132 points.