WBB's Streak Snapped at ENC
QUINCY, Mass.- The Mitchell College women's basketball team dropped a 80-75 decision to Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday afternoon at the Lahue Physical Education Center.
The Lions improved to 18-3 on the year and remain tied atop the New England Collegiate Conference with the victory. The Mariners, who saw their six-game winning streak snapped, sank to 13-9 overall and 8-3 in league competition with the result.
ENC's Stevie Orton poured in a career-high 34 points and hauled in eight rebounds while Kyra Fleharty finished with 15 points and five boards. Jenn Burnham contributed with seven points and six rebounds and Seniesha Sekaquaptewa added seven points off the bench.
Le'Sandra Turner paced the Mariners with 25 points while Amina Wiley registered a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards. Sam McKenna and Kelsey Hernandez also finished in double digits with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Orton scored ENC's first 11 points en route to an early 11-9 edge. From there the hosts pushed the lead to 20-14 with 4:14 left to play in the first following a layup by Orton.
The Lions held a narrow 24-21 edge heading into the second quarter but quickly expanded the advantage, stringing together a 13-2 run to bump the lead to 37-23. Eastern Nazarene widened the gap to 20 with five seconds remaining in the quarter as Orton converted a free throw. Mitchell's highlight of the period came when Turner drilled a half-court heave at the buzzer to cut the Lions' halftime lead to 53-36.
Orton poured in 27 points to lead all players while Fleharty netted 11 points in the first half.
After the Lions stretched the margin to 22 points early in the second half, the Mariners tallied 11 unanswered points to trim the deficit to 60-49 with 3:56 left to play in the third quarter.
ENC led 63-54 at the start of the fourth quarter and regained a double-digit lead with 7:29 to go in regulation on a free throw by Fleharty. However, Mitchell battled back to seize a one-point edge with less than three minutes remaining as Wiley completed a three-point play from the charity stripe to make it 70-69.
The Lions responded with a layup by Moira Phillips to go ahead 71-70 before the Mariners answered with a trey by Leilani McClellan to jump ahead 73-71 with 1:52 on the clock. ENC clawed back to claim a 74-73 advantage as Sekaquaptewa splashed a straight-away three-pointer with 1:09 left to play.
After Wiley gave the guests a 75-74 lead, Orton canned two free throws to lift Eastern Nazarene ahead 76-75. The Lions tacked on free throws by Sekaquaptewa and Orton in the final seconds of the game to seal the critical win.
Eastern Nazarene shot 39 percent from the floor and went 8-for-23 from three-point range. Mitchell shot 39 percent from the field and 30 percent from deep.
Mitchell will next host Dean College on Tuesday, February 18 at 6 p.m.