BRISTOL, R.I. — The Roger Williams University Women's Basketball team held off Curry College with a 59-55 Commonwealth Coast Conference win Tuesday evening.
 
It was a back and forth affair in the opening quarter. Both teams combined for five ties and six lead changes. Curry's Peyton Perine (Fairfax, Va.) paced the way for the Colonels early on, connecting on her first five shots of the game while scoring 10 of Curry's first 11 points. Sam Mancinelli (Peabody, Mass.) helped give RWU its largest lead of the quarter with a three-point play for a 16-12 advantage. The Hawks would eventually end the period with a 16-13 lead.
 
In the second, the Hawk defense would clamp down on Curry, holding the Colonels to only five points in the quarter on only 2-of-15 shooting. Gabby Jerahian (Quincy, Mass.) led RWU with seven points in the quarter to help give Roger Williams a 27-18 halftime lead.
 
The third quarter saw Curry cut the deficit to only four with just over five minutes left (28-32). Yet back-to-back buckets from Sam Leone (Ashland, Mass.) and a three from Margarita Delaporta quickly pushed RWU's lead back up to 12. The Hawks would eventually take a 44-34 lead going into the final quarter.
 
RWU eventually built its lead to 13 with only 2:51 left in the fourth quarter before Curry used a late rally to put a scare in the Hawks. Curry forced three consecutive turnovers and scored six unanswered points to make it a seven-point game with just over a minute left. The Colonels later pulled within five in the with under ten seconds to play, but Leone iced the game with a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.
 
Karli Opalka (Southbury, Conn.) notched her third double-double of the year with a career-high 16 points and 13 rebounds. Leone finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and four steals while Emily Yonych (Cheshire, Conn.) added seven boards and four blocks.
 
Perine had a game-high 20 points, while Emily Irwin (Billerica, Mass.) almost finished with a triple-double, going for 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists in addition to four steals.
 
On Saturday, Roger Williams (5-10, 3-3 CCC) heads to Gordon while Curry (6-7, 3-2 CCC) hosts the University of New England on Thursday.