Beverly, Mass. - November 13, 2024 - The Springfield College women's basketball team used a 10-2 run to start the second half to pull away from Endicott to earn a 57-44 win on Wednesday evening. 

Amanda Leary (Westbury, N.Y.) was tremendous in the victory as she tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds while Angie Czeremcha (West Springfield, Mass.) pulled down 18 rebounds to go along with eight points.  Claire Finney (Haverhill, Mass.) also netted 15 points for a Springfield team that finished the evening shooting 21 of 49 (42.9%), held a 44-29 advantage on the glass, and outscored the Gulls in the paint by a 26-14 margin. 

At the 7:03 mark, Leary drilled a triple to give Springfield a 7-2 advantage and would later cash in on a pair from the charity stripe with just over four minutes left in the period to double up the visitors lead at 14-7.   Springfield would take a 17-10 lead into the second quarter as Leary totaled 10 points and five boards to pace the Pride in the frame.

Springfield used a pair of buckets in the paint by Leary as part of a 6-0 spurt to push the advantage to 25-12 as Endicott called for a timeout at 4:58.   After Endicott manufactured a 6-0 run of their own to trim the Pride's lead to 25-18 at the 2:11 mark, Leary would put back her own miss to give Springfield a 29-20 edge inside the final 20 seconds. However, the Gulls were able to convert a three-point play in the final moments of the half as Springfield went into the break with a 29-23 cushion. Leary was dominant with a 16 points and eight rebounds in the opening half.  

Finney would open up the second half with back-to-back inside scores and later slice through the Gulls defense to cap off a 10-2 spurt to give Springfield a 39-25 lead at the 5:34 mark and force Endicott into a timeout.   A second-chance bucket by Stefany Padula (Franklin, Mass.) pushed Springfield's lead to 43-27 with just over 90 seconds left in the third, before two freebies from Natalie Lucas (Madison, Conn.) inside the first two minutes of the fourth helped the lead balloon to 20 points.  The hosts would make things interesting with 12-0 run over a five-plus minute stretch in the fourth, only to have Finney respond with a conventional three-point play as Springfield pulled away with the 57-44 triumph.

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