by QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College women’s basketball team stormed past Salve Regina 80-45 Saturday afternoon at the Lahue Physical Education Center.
The Lions climb to 5-1 on the season with the win while the Seahawks flutter to 0-6 overall.
Stevie Orton poured in a game-high 20 points while grabbing seven boards. Nahatabaa Nacona (Navajo) tallied 17 points off the bench while Kyra Fleharty (Lewistown, Mont.) notched 12 points and nine rebounds. Sydni Oviatt (Fruit Heights, Utah) and Seniesha Sekaquaptewa (Hopi) both chipped in with seven points.
The visitors snagged an early four-point edge as Mary Rorke and Torie Scorpio sank back-to-back treys with 6:23 left in the opening period, 9-5.
The hosts answered with six consecutive points to seize an 11-9 lead with 4:15 to go in the first quarter.
Sekaquaptewa splashed a three-pointer late in the opening frame to push Eastern Nazarene’s advantage to 19-15 heading into the second.
Fleharty canned a pair of three-pointers and added a put-back layup to widen the Lions’ lead to 29-17 with 8:40 remaining in the second quarter.
The home team extended the gap to 24 with less than 60 seconds left to play in the half, 46-22, on a bucket by Orton before Scorpio tossed in a layup in the final moments of the second period to cut Salve Regina’s deficit to 46-24.
Eastern Nazarene shot 41.9% from the floor and 30.8% from three-point territory in the first two quarters of the contest. The Seahawks posted a field-goal percentage of 29.2% in the first half to go with 3-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc.
The Lions outscored the guests 17-9 in the third frame to sport a 63-33 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
After conceding a basket early in the fourth, Eastern Nazarene quickly regained a 30-point cushion which it would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest en route to its third-straight victory.
