SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Women's Basketball team fell 52-54 to Western New England University Wednesday evening in the first Commonwealth Coast Conference game for both teams.
 
Junior guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) led the Golden Bears offensively, matching her career-high with 21 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line.
 
Junior forward Alyssa Stefanelli (Chicopee, Mass.) turned in a solid all-around performance with nine points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.
 
Roger Williams junior guard Sam Leone (Ashland, Mass.) paced the Hawks with a team-high 17 points and six boards. Junior Gabby Jerahian (Quincy, Mass.) and freshman Sam Mancinelli (Peabody, Mass.) also scored in double figures with 14 and ten points, respectively.
 
Trailing 7-4 three minutes into the contest, Western New England utilized an 8-0 run to pull ahead 12-7 midway through the first quarter. A three-pointer by Jerahian at the 3:44 mark ended Roger Williams' drought, but the Golden Bears outscored the Hawks 7-2 over the remainder of the period to open up a 19-12 advantage.
 
Western New England led by the same margin (26-19) following a Farrell layup with 4:50 left in the half. Another Jerahian triple on Roger Williams' next possession sparked a 6-2 run to close out the frame as the Hawks pulled to within three (28-25) at the break.
 
The Golden Bears regained the momentum with a 9-0 run to start the second half that included five points from Farrell and four from junior Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.).
 
Western New England held its largest lead of the night (43-29) after Farrell sank a pair of free throws with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Roger Williams still faced a double-digit deficit (50-40) with less than four minutes left in the contest, before a trio of Leone three-pointers brought the Hawks back to within one (50-49) with 1:15 to play.
 
After Stefanelli missed the second of two free throws with 27 seconds on the clock, Carlson snagged a key offensive rebound and got the ball to Farrell, who was fouled and made both free throw attempts to push Western New England's lead to four (53-49).
 
Roger Williams cut its deficit to one (53-52) with 13 seconds left when Jerahian banked in a three-pointer from the right side, but the Hawks would get no closer. Farrell made 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to make it a two-point game, before Carlson and Stefanelli came up with clutch blocks on Roger Williams' final possession to seal the win.
 
Western New England shot a season-best 87.5 percent (21-of-24) from the charity stripe. The two teams combined for 28 turnovers, with Roger Williams' 24 turnovers resulting in 17 points for the Golden Bears.
 
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, as Western New England (4-2, 1-0 CCC) travels to Boston to play Wentworth and Roger Williams (2-4, 0-1 CCC) takes on Salve Regina in Newport, R.I.
 
- Release courtesy of the Western New England University Sports Information Department