Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine - The University of New England dealt Nichols College a 70-33 defeat in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Forum.

Senior Hayley Zophin (Framingham, Mass.) scored a game-high nine points for the Bison (4-8, 1-5 CCC) while sophomore Sarah Whitestone (Dalton, Mass.) had five points and sophomore Alexis Wegrzynek (Wilbraham, Mass.) snared a team-high seven rebounds.

With the win, the Nor'easters remain unbeaten in conference play at 6-0 and improve to 9-4 overall. They held the Bison to 29 percent shooting (12-of-41) and forced 28 turnovers.

Nichols played its second-straight game without junior starting point guard Devon Spirka (Wilmington, Vt.). 
 
UNE freshman Michaela Flanagan (Plymouth, Mass.) led Big Blue in scoring for the second straight game in 18 minutes off the bench, going for 13 points as well as five rebounds and five steals. Senior Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) added her eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 boards -- 11 of which came on the offensive end. Sophomore Kelly Coleman (Portland, Conn.) scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting in limited action.
 
Freshman Lauren Hayden (Chantilly, Va.) was all over the court for the home side, tallying seven points, seven rebounds, a season-high seven assists, and a season-high seven steals in the game. Classmate Meghan Gribbin (Windham, Maine) contributed six assists to the offensive effort, and sophomore Kendra Dawless (West Greenwich, R.I.) had seven rebounds in 14 minutes, to go with three steals.
 
As a team, the Nor'easters had 23 steals for the second time in four games. Nine of the team's 13 players in uniform recorded at least one theft in the contest.
 
All but one player garnered a rebound for Big Blue, which finished with a commanding 50-29 advantage on the glass.
 
A jumper by Wegrzynek with 8:14 left in the first half reduced the UNE cushion to six (18-12), but it was all Nor'easters for the remainder of the period. Big Blue finished the frame on a 17-2 run to go up 21 (35-14) at halftime.
 
The margin swelled to 38 (62-24) after a 19-2 spurt in the second half -- a seven-minute stretch that saw UNE knock down all five of its treys in the closing 20 minutes.

The Bison host Roger Williams Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. while the Nor'easters host Eastern Nazarene Tuesday at the same time.

Contributions from UNE sports information