Vikings Fall in Northshore Matchup

BEVERLY, Mass. – Salem State women's basketball traveled to Beverly, Massachusetts to take on cross-town rival Endicott College for their final game of the fall semester. Despite a strong fourth quarter push the Vikings fell to the Gulls by a tally of 95-82, dropping them to 5-5 to enter the break.

Four Vikings notched double-digits with Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) leading the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Nicolette D'Itria (Revere, Mass.) added a double-double of her own with 10 points and 11 boards. Abuk Teng (Manchester, N.H.) netted 17 points while Jaylen Nieves (Chicopee, Mass.) and Kylie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) chipped in with 14 and 16 points, respectively, with Gates also adding eight helpers in the effort.

Emma Shinney (Wakefield, Mass.) led the Gulls with a near triple-double as she recorded 22 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists while teammates Libby Fleming (Bangor, Maine), Sarah Dempsey (Windham, N.H.), and Katelyn Konareski (Milford, Conn.) each added 16 points of their own in the victory.

Goncalves opened the game with a layup to give the Vikings the first basket before the Gulls went on a 14-2 run to take the early double-digit lead with 5:33 to play in the opening stanza. Shortly after, Teng went a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line to bring it back to a single-digit game but the Gulls would find another ten-point advantage shortly after, which would carry them to a 13-point lead heading into the second quarter.

Salem wasted no time mounting a comeback as the duo of D'Itria and Goncalves scored eight unanswered points in the opening two minutes to make it to a two-possession game (25-20). Konareski would stop the bleeding with a three before another Gull's three at the halfway point of the second would resolidify their 10-point lead (34-24). Both teams would trade baskets before the Gulls closed out the half with back-to-back three pointers to take the sizeable 46-30 advantage to enter the break.

Endicott found their largest lead coming out of the half as back-to-back layups gave them a 20-point advantage (50-30). A combined 17-points from Goncalves and Nieves would keep the deficit around the 20-point mark for the majority of the third, before a deep ball and layup from Kylie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) made it a 71-52 game to enter the final ten minutes of play.

Spearheaded by three Viking three-pointers Salem mounted a comeback to bring themselves within nine-points of the Gulls with just under five minutes to play in the game. However, a perfect trip from the charity stripe would ignite the Gulls on a run to reclaim their double-digit cushion (85-70) with 3:31 to play in the game. The Vikings would make one final push when a Teng three brought her team within 12 points, but that would be as close as the Vikings would get as the Gulls would go onto take the 95-82 victory at home.