BIDDEFORD — Have a long winning streak broken? Well, just start another one.
That’s exactly what the University of New England women’s basketball team did Wednesday night, using a strong start and balanced scoring through the rotation to run away with a 68-45 victory over Curry College in a Commonwealth Coast Conference game at Harold Alfond Forum.
The win came four days after an 80-59 defeat at the hands of Roger Williams, which snapped the Nor’easters 29-game winning streak against CCC foes.
“We talked a lot about how it’s more important how we respond to the loss than the loss itself,” UNE coach Anthony Ewing said. “It was interesting to see how this team would respond. We’re still relatively young, and I liked how we looked.”
After scoring a career-high 14 points in the loss to Roger Williams, freshman forward Brooke Flaherty led UNE (13-2, 8-1 CCC) with 12 points on Wednesday as 11 different Nor’easters scored on the night.
Part of that balance was by design, as Flaherty, Kate Sawyer and Kendra Dawless ”“ who had combined for six starts on the season, all of them Flaherty’s ”“ were all given starts in an effort to shake things up.
“I just wanted to mix it up,” Ewing said of the different starting lineup, which also included regular starters Meghan Gribbin and Lauren Hayden. “I was afraid we were getting a little stagnant. The loss itself probably would have shaken us up enough, but I wanted to keep everyone honest.”
“When we watched some of the Roger Williams’ film we felt like we were playing a little flat and the intensity just wasn’t there,” Flaherty added. “So we really wanted to come out strong today.”
The Nor’easters certainly did that, starting the game on a 10-2 run and building the lead to 17 after 13 minutes. Curry (7-8, 4-5 CCC) got back to within 10 when a Shannon Griffith layup made it 28-18 with 4:30 left before halftime but UNE ended the half on an 11-2 run to push the lead back up to 19 by the break.
“I liked how we responded, especially defensively,” Ewing said. “I felt like we took them out of their half-court game a little bit. I was pleased with the result there.”
The Nor’easters pushed their advantage all the way to 22 points early in the second, but an 8-0 run got the Colonels back to within 49-35 with 8:41 run.
That would be their high-water mark, however, as UNE scored on its next four possessions ”“ including two 3-pointers from Sadie DiPierro ”“ to pull away once and for all.
“Those were big for her,” Ewing said of DiPierro, who leads the team with 22 made 3’s on the season. “She’s been struggling with her shot a bit. She’s taking good shots and getting good looks, so it was nice to see her knock a few down. It took some pressure off her, because that’s what she does for us ”“ hit outside shots.”
Alanna Vose also canned two 3’s as part of her 10 points for the Nor’easters, while Sawyer ”“ who entered with just four points on the entire season ”“ knocked down three shots from behind the arc for her nine points.
“(Sawyer) shot it really well,” Ewing said. “It was fun to see that because she works really hard, not that the other kids don’t, but you want to reward that.”
UNE will hope to keep its new winning streak going when it visits Springfield, Mass. to take on Western New England on Saturday. The Nor’easters topped the Golden Bears (7-7, 4-4 CCC) 72-42 when the teams met in Biddeford back on Dec. 7, but after the Roger Williams game, Flaherty said nothing was being taken for granted.
“I think it definitely was an eye-opener for us,” she said. “Coach always says how we’re going to get everyone’s best game, and I think we needed to take a step back and realize we still have to work very hard for everything.
“These are still tests for us, so we’ve been trying to work hard and hold each other accountable.”
— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.
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