WENHAM, Mass. — The Roger Williams University Women's Basketball team pulled away in the final five minutes to post a 66-53 win over Gordon College Wednesday evening.

A near-historic night for freshman Fredi Nielsen (Bridgeport, Conn.) wasn't enough to hold off Commonwealth Coast Conference powerhouse Roger Williams on Wednesday night. Nielsen came down with a season-high 19 rebounds and added 17 points.

 For the first 30 minutes of play, it looked as if Nielsen would walk away with Gordon's single-game rebound record of 22 boards—set by her teammate Lauren Kranyak (Locust Grove, Va.) last January. The freshman forward finished just short of the feat, but turned in one of the best rookie performances by a CCC player this season.

Nielsen's play, alongside the heady shooting by Brooke Kratche (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), sparked the Scots to a near improbable advantage in the first half. Every time the Hawks looked to make an extended run for the lead, Gordon would answer with a big shot of their own. Gordon's high-flying offense and timely defense excited the crowd with a possibility for a big-time upset.

The Scots led by as many as four points in the first half, but never trailed by more than the three points scored on the Hawks' opening possession. They found themselves down 30-29 with only five seconds remaning in the period, when Mariel Barner (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found Nielsen cutting to the basket with time winding down. Nielsen lofted a floater just out of reach of her defender and banked a pretty shot to give the Scots a 31-30 lead as time expired in the first half.

Roger Williams came out of the break swinging for the fences, building up an eight-point lead halfway through the final stanza. Not to be dismayed, Gordon's Skylar Bareford (Stonington, Conn.) and Kratche nailed back-to-back buckets to cut Roger Williams' lead down to 50-47 with 7:03 on the clock.

However, conference standout Kaitlyn Bovee (Berlin, Conn.) took over the game in the final minutes, as she has for much of her four-year career. Bovee scored 14 second-half points and 21 for the game to lead all scorers. Her triple with 6:39 left in regulation spurred the Hawks on an 11-0 run to break open the game and Gordon was not able to get the game back within 10 points.

Nielsen finished just short of a record-breaking performance and was only able to nab two rebounds in the final 10 minutes of play. Kratche was Gordon's leading scorer with 20 points in an efficient night for the junior. Bareford also finished in double-digits with 11 points, six of them on a pair of threes in the second half.

Roger Williams received points from 11 different sources, but only Bovee and Ari Renwick (Westwood, Mass.) managed to get over the 10-point hurdle. Renwick, a senior, added 11 points and four assists at guard in 34 minutes of playing time.

Nichols comes to town on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. for a rematch of a Bison 60-39 victory on December 7, in Dudley, Mass. Roger Williams will travel to Salve Regina on Saturday.

- Release courtesy of the Gordon College Sports Information Department