Jordyn Franzen hit two clutch free throws with no time remaining in the 4th quarter to force overtime, and the University of New England scored eight of the final 10 points in the extra frame to pull out a 71-66 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball victory over Western New England University at the AHL Center on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 3).
Playing bonus ball for the second straight outing, the Nor'easters (6-3, 2-0 CCC) took the lead for good (65-64) with 2:23 showing on a basket by Kaylee Beyor. Beyor who added one at the line before a layup by Franzen made it 68-64 with 1:06 to play. After Shaina Cooney cut the Golden Bear deficit to two, Keagan Dunbar added one with 16 seconds left (69-66). WNEU's last look came up empty and the visitors tacked on two more to cap it.
UNE had trailed by as many as eight down the stretch in regulation (50-42), and while eight in-a-row immediately tied things, the hosts bounced back to a 55-50 edge. But seven straight from Faye Veilleux gave the Nor'easters their first advantage (57-55) of the 4th period with 3:06 on the clock. Cooney countered with two and then scored again to make it 59-58, prior to adding a free throw with 0:25 ticks remaining. An ensuing turnover left UNE needing to foul twice just to send Western New England to the line with 2.6 on the scoreboard, but neither attempt went down. The Nor'easters stepped into the 1.9-second opening with a sideline out-of-bounds play that led to Franzen drawing the foul and tying the match at 60-all with her only two free throw tries of the day.
Franzen topped all players with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and knocked down all three shots from deep in the second half on the way to 15 of those points over the final 25 minutes. She also recorded one of three double-doubles in the contest by grabbing 10 rebounds, and snagged three steals. Veilleux finished with 13 points and six boards. Beyor went for 12 points and 12 caroms, while Dunbar posted 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Juliana Tracey contributed 10 points as well as five assists for UNE, which closes out of semester on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.) at home against Endicott College.
For Western New England (2-6, 1-1 CCC), Abby Garaban had 15 points, four assists, and three steals. Lindsey Carey supplied 14 points, and Cooney wound up with 12 points and a game-best 14 rebounds.
The Nor'easters began the afternoon with the first six, however 10 consecutive vaulted the hosts in front. The initial four of the 2nd stanza made for the widest margin of the game (22-13), and the teams went into the intermission at 34-27 in favor of the Golden Bears. UNE battled back in the 3rd and nudged ahead at 40-39, but eight of the last 10 fell for WNEU to reclaim a cushion (47-42) through 30 minutes.
UNE out-scored WNEU by 15 from downtown (24-9) and four at the stripe, but only connected on 33 percent of its field goals (24-for-73) in the match. The Golden Bears displayed 40 percent efficiency from the floor (26-for-65), which powered a 44-26 scoring cushion in the paint.
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