Fourth Quarter Heroics Carry Vikings Over Gulls, 66-62

SALEM, Mass. – Salem State women's basketball hosted cross- town foe, Endicott College, for their last home game on the 2022 calendar. After a slow start, the Vikings and Gulls went back and forth in the final minute of play before the Vikings snuck away with the thrilling 66-62 victory over the Gulls.

Kylie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) did everything for the Vikings on the afternoon notching 22 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. The Vikings also saw production from Abuk Teng (Manchester, N.H.) who added 12 points and Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) and Liz Zaiter (Peabody, Mass.) who each added 11 of their own in the victory. Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) also grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds.  

The Gulls were paced by Tara Laugeni (Woodbridge, Conn.) who had 24 points and seven rebounds, followed by Emily St. Thomas (Sterling, Mass.) who notched 11 points and eight rebounds in the effort.

How it Happened:

• After a scoreless three minutes to open the game, the Gulls got on the board first followed quickly by the Vikings to find the game tied at two with 5:52 to go in the opening quarter. With just over a minute to play in the stanza, Teng gave the Vikings their first lead of the game after a three put her team up one (8-7). The Gulls found themselves on top with 30 ticks to go in the quarter, but a Goncalves layup at the buzzer tied the game at 12 apiece going into the second quarter.
• The Vikings spent the opening four minutes of the second on a 5-2 run to give them a four- point tilt (20-16) before the game would remain scoreless for three minutes. A timeout allowed the Gulls to regroup and go on a run of their own to tie the game at 20 all. Both teams would trade buckets in the final minute and half before Gates closed out the quarter with five unanswered points of her own to give the Vikings the 7-point cushion (29-22) to enter the half.
• Two minutes into the third the Vikings saw their largest lead to date (33-24) after Gates found Zaiter for an easy two. The Gulls answered back quickly as they began to find their groove and score seven unanswered points to bring them within two points of the home team.  With just under two minutes to go in the quarter Salem found themselves back on top by six (44-38) after Teng was able to find the bottom of the basket. Each team would tack on one more basket to send the game to the final ten minutes in favor of the Vikings, 46-40.  
• The Gulls used the opening minutes to mount a comeback, scoring the first six points, to bring the game to a 46-point stalemate with eight minutes to play. Shortly after Endicott found themselves back in the driver's seat as a jumper from Sarah Dempsey (Windham, N.H.) put them on top by two (52-50). After tying the game four more times just to have Endicott reclaim the slight lead, the Vikings were finally able to get back ahead by two (58-56) after Goncalves' netted a jumper with just over one minute to play.
• The Gulls answered quickly with a three-pointer but Gates put the crowd on their feet after absorbing the contact and converting an and one to put the Vikings up 61-59 with 40 ticks left on the clock. When it looked like the game was going to be over, Libby Fleming (Bangor, Maine) found herself wide open in the corner and nailed a three to give Endicott the 62-61 edge with 6.5 seconds to play. With three seconds to go Goncalves pulled out the heroics and converted an and one to put her team up two which would lead them to the eventual 66-62 victory.