Women’s Basketball Holds Off Eastern Nazarene, 77-73

BOSTON – Suffolk women's basketball double digit lead dwindled in the fourth, but the Rams composure down the stretch preserved and the blue-and-gold captured a 77-73 win over Eastern Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 77 | Eastern Nazarene 73
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-1) | Eastern Nazarene (1-4)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a tight first 10 minutes with four lead exchanges and five tied scores. The playing field leveled for the last time at 18-all, before Arlenis Veloz knocked down her second triple of the day to push the host ahead, 21-18.  

Out of a Lions timeout, the teams traded buckets and Katie Kirsch's turn-around jumper at the buzzer swished through the net to keep the Rams in front, 23-20.  

Eastern Nazarene locked things at 23-all on its first possession of the second stanza then it was all Suffolk from there as the blue-and-gold would go on to outscore the visitors, 16-2, to take 14-point, 39-25, advantage at the midway point of the second quarter. The scoring frenzy featured eight points from Amanda DeAngelis and a pair of hoops from Maddie Stewart.

Action turned into a move back-and-forth affair from there. Suffolk's early edge sent the Rams into the break with a 16-point, 52-36 cushion. 

The Lions leapt out of the half time with an 8-2 spurt to cut the distance down to 10, 54-44, in the first three minutes of the third quarter. 

Ed Leyden called his team over to talk things through. The huddle proved to help the Rams as Colby Guinta sparked a six straight points from Suffolk that turned into a 9-1 Rams rally that extended the edge to 18, 53-45, with just under four minutes to go in the third. 

Eastern Nazarene attempted another comeback to keep things interesting. This time the visitors closed out the third stanza with an 8-2 run to slice Suffolk's advantage to a dozen, 65-63.  

The Lions comeback carried into the fourth frame as they dropped the first eight points of the quartet to make it a two-possession game, 65-61, with 7:30 left on the clock.  

Back-to-back buckets from Stewart and DeAngelis restored an eight-point margin, but sharp shooting from the Lions kept the fans on their edge of their seats. ENC sunk two buckets from downtown and Te'yalla Simospon converted a layup to make it a two-point game with 4:09 on the clock. 

Points ping-ponged back-and-forth as time ticked off the clock and Suffolk clung to the lead 76-73 with 28.9 seconds to go. 

After Veloz connected on a lay-up, Eastern Nazarene used a timeout to advance the ball. The Rams forced the Lions to gamble on the long ball. Michala O'Donoghue's shot from behind-the-arc was off the mark, Kirsch pulled down the board and outlet to Veloz. 

ENC immediate fouled Veloz and sent her to the line. The freshman missed the first, made the second and the Lions used their last timeout of the day in a last-ditch effort with 3.8 seconds to play.  

Eastern Nazarene's comeback dreams expired as Alondra Jimenez hail mary triple fell into Veloz hands as time expired.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• DeAngelis finished with a game-high 23 points, 11 of which came in the second quartet. The junior shot 11-for-22 from the day. She added eight caroms, one assist, one block and one steal. 
• Stewart supplied an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double with one dime and one swat. 
• Kirsch contributed 11 rebounds, eight points, four helpers and three takeaways. 
• Veloz added 14 points, six rebounds, three handouts, one steal and one block. 
• Suffolk shot 40.0 percent for the game (32-80), 36.8 percent (7-19) from behind-the-arc and 60.0 percent (6-10) from the line. 
• Eastern Nazarene, who saw four players in double figures in Simpson (11), Anaira Ayala (10), Delaney Walker (22) and Jimenez (20), shot 42.4 percent (27-64) from the field on the afternoon with a 39.3 conversation rate from 3-point land and 80.0 percent (8-10) from the charity stripe. 
• Suffolk outrebounded the LIions, 49-38. 
• The Rams had 38 points in the paint and capitalized on their 18 offensive boards with 18 second-chance points. 
• The Rams reserves added 23 points off the bench.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Eastern Nazarene renewed a rivalry meeting, meeting for the first time since 2020 and 12 time overall. 
• The Rams improved to 7-5 all-time against the Lions. 
• Suffolk has won back-to-back battles against ENC. 
• Suffolk's 77 points scored are the most by the blue-and-gold all-time against Eastern Nazarene. 
• As the home team, the Rams moved to 5-1 all-time versus the Lions. 
• Suffolk entertained Eastern Nazarene for the first time since the 1998-99 campaign. 
• The Rams won their third straight game. The three wins in a row are the most for the blue-and-gold since a three-game win streak Feb. 10-14, 2022. 
• Suffolk started the year 3-1 for the second straight season. 
• Guinta has kept her 3-pointer streak alive as the freshman has poured in a bucket from behind-the-arc in all four games of her collegiate career. 
• Stewart notched the first double-double of her collegiate career. 
• Stewart pulled down a career-high 10 boards. 
• Veloz, who had career-highs in points (14) and field made goals (5), made the first trey of her collegiate career.  The floor general matched a personal-best in boards (6) and steals (1), as well 
• Both of Madi Mahoney's field goals made were from behind-the-arc, a personal-best for the senior.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up a hectic stretch of four games in seven-day span Monday, Nov. 21 when it heads to MIT for a 7:15 p.m. match-up.