Box Score  

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – After the opening quarter, the game was never actually within reach, but was never completely out of reach, either, as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team battled unbeaten Western New England University throughout before dropping its fourth straight season-opening decision, 63-54, in a non-conference game in the Warriors' home-opener Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
 
As has been the case throughout the first week of the season, however, Eastern's (0-4) bench could not match its opponents' non-starters as Western New England's (3-0) six bench players totalled 29 points and 16 rebounds in an average of 13.8 minutes while the Warriors' five bench players managed three points and three rebounds in an average of 7.2 minutes.
 
The final outcome was nearly identical to WNEU's 11-point, 63-52 victory a year ago at the Alumni Healthful Living Center  when the Bears went on to a 20-win season (22-6), Commonwealth Coast Conference title and NCAA tournament berth.
 
Tuesday, the Bears never trailed in a game that was tied only after each club scored an opening basket, but the Warriors clawed back from a 12-point, 30-18 halftime deficit to cut the deficit to six midway through the third quarter following back-to-back buckets from senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) and sophomore forward Marissa Nudd's (Colchester) jumper off a defensive rebound and pass from sophomore guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell).
 
That six-point margin was as close as the Warriors would come, however, as the visitors responded with a modest six-point burst of their own to push the lead back to double figures (43-31) with four minutes left in the quarter. With the score 37-31 in favor of WNEU senior  forward Shaina Cooney scored inside to spark that six-point run, six-foot graduate forward Nora Young put back in her own miss off a steal from senior guard Emma Novajasky, and a pair of free throws by team scoring leader Lilly Hedge, a senior forward, following a loose ball foul off a WNEU miss, upped the lead to a dozen, 43-31.
 
A 74 percent free throw shooting team this year, Eastern missed ten of 25 attempts (60 percent) which prevented the Warriors from capitalizing on WNEU's similarly-mediocre 56.5 percent shooting (13-of-23) from the line.
 
The Warriors managed only a single basket and three points through the first nine minutes until senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) swished a jumper with 62 seconds left in the first quarter. Eastern trailed by seven after one quarter and was outscored 6-2 in the first three minutes of the second in falling behind by double digits, 18-7.
 
First-year point guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford), the shortest starter for either team at 5-foot-5, become the first Eastern player to each double figures in rebounds this year, nearly doubling her season total and leading both teams with 11 rebounds and only two turnovers in 36 minutes, to go along with ten points. Salato led both teams with 23 points (8-of-16 FG/7-of-11 FTs) and pulled down nine rebounds in 38 minutes to close within three of 500 in her 76-game career (the pair accounted for 21 of the team's 33 rebounds).
 
Young (15) and Cooney (14) were the Golden Bears' two double-figure scorers, with Hedge leading her team with eight rebounds and four of her squad's eight blocked shots.
 
On Friday, Eastern faces Bridgewater State University in the opening round of the BSU Cave Classic at 5:30 p.m. The Bears enter the game with a 2-1 record, having beaten Babson (79-74) in overtime and MIT (70-61) after an opening 80-57 loss to Division I Bryant University. Eastern leads the all-time series, 11-6, having won ten of the last 11, most recently, 70-49 in 2015-16 at Geissler Gymnasium. On the second day of the tournament, Eastern faces either University of New England or Emerson College at either noon (consolation) or 2 p.m. (championship).