Statistics

BOSTON – Suffolk University emerged victorious over the University of New England women's basketball team in Saturday afternoon's low-scoring Conference of New England affair, 45-42, on Smith Court.
 
UNE (12-11, 10-4) connected on just two field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and was held scoreless over the game's final five minutes as the Rams (11-12, 5-9) erased an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to chalk up the victory. Allison Bono and Ava Thurman paced Suffolk in the scoring column with 12 and 10, respectively, while the Nor'easters were led by Kaia Anderson's nine.
 
The Rams were much more efficient from 3-point range, hitting six of their 13 attempts, while UNE was 4-for-28. The Nor'easters missed each of their first 11 tries from deep, having gone 0-for-10 during the first quarter. Despite the shooting woes, UNE led by as many as six in the second quarter before going into halftime with a 25-25 tie. The Nor'easters grabbed a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter with a triple from Sydney Jenisch, but the outside-shooting trouble returned in the fourth, where UNE was 0-for-7.
 
Suffolk's efficiency from the perimeter, along with its 42-37 rebounding advantage, helped compensate for its 22 turnovers. The Rams also saw plenty more opportunities at the charity stripe, going 11-for-19 while the Nor'easters were 4-for-6.
 
Akiyah Brown scored with just under a minute remaining to give Suffolk its first lead since the beginning of the second quarter, and Olivia Verdile's bucket following the UNE turnover put the Rams on top by three – their largest lead of the afternoon. The Nor'easters had the ball with seven seconds remaining and a chance to tie, but a 3-point attempt missed the mark and Suffolk secured the rebound as time expired.