Box Score
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – In the opening round of the Bridgewater State University Cave Classic against the host Bears Friday night, a long first-half scoring streak (of 18 points) was not enough to guarantee the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team  its first victory of the season.
 
Saturday, in the consolation round against the University of New England, it was.
 
Behind eight early points from sophomore forward Marissa Nudd (Colchester), Eastern ran off ten consecutive points in less than four minutes to build a nine-point lead after seven minutes and went on to a 61-50 non-conference victory over New England at the Tinsley Center.
 
With the win, Eastern (1-5) snaps the longest opening losing streak in the program's 54-year history.  The Warriors and Nor-easters (2-3) were meeting for only the second time in the series, with the Warriors posting a 65-58 victory 25 years ago at Francis E. Geissler Gymasnium.
 
Trailing by a point four minutes into action, Eastern ripped off ten straight points – outscoring UNE 14-4 the rest of the quarter -- to take a nine-point, 13-4 lead with three minutes left in the half on Nudd's jumper off a defensive rebound from first-year guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford). Nudd's own putback gave Eastern the lead for good at 5-4. The 5-foot-11 inch Nudd and six-foot senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) combined for 13 of the team's first 15 points.
 
Leading by nine after ten minutes, Eastern burst quickly in the second quarter, scoring the first seven points over the first three minutes to push the lead to 16, 24-8. Salato and sophomore guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) each scored inside and sophomore guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) sank a three-pointer.
 
Without a free throw attempt in the first quarter, UNE scored six of their final eight points of the second quarter from the stripe to cut the gap to seven, 28-21, at the half.
 
The Nor'easters were able to get as close as four points three minutes into the fourth quarter, but Eastern responded with a decisive 8-1 run to take an 11-point, 53-42 lead into the final five minutes. Clark's second three-pointer of the game got the surge going, six-foot sophomore Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, NH) made it 50-42, and Nudd's conventional three-point play restored a double-digit lead (53-42).
 
Salato posted her second tournament double-double with game-highs of 22 points and 12 rebounds(24/11 Friday), making her Eastern's representative on the all-tournament team. Nudd added  14 points and four rebounds and senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) nine points and a career-high ten rebounds. The 5-foot-5 inch Cassesse also had five assists and ten rebounds, improving her season rebounding average to 6.5.
 
As a team, Eastern sank 13 of its 16 free throw attempts (81.3 percent) – its third game of at least 80 percent this year. Salato, Cassesse and Mayo helped Eastern to a +11 advantage on the boards.
 
Graduate forward Faye Veilleux, a first-team All-CCC player last year, led UNE with 21 points (7-of-24 FG) and nine rebounds but was her team's only double-figure scorer. She represented her team on the all-tournament team.
 
New England had lost two of its top three scorers and rebounders – including first-team post player Jordyn Franzen (17.2 ppg./8.0 rpg.) -- from last year's 21-7 team which reached the Commonwealth Coast Conference final before losing to Western New England (which defeated Eastern by nine this past Tuesday).

In two games, Salato averaged 23.0 points and 11.5 rebounds and shot 51.4 percent from the floor and was 8-of-9 from the stripe. She also had four steals and four asissts and a blocked shot; Nudd averaged 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds with five assists, three steals and a block shot. She shot 52.9 percent from the floor and was 6-of-9 from the foul line; Cassesse averaged 10.0 points and 8.0 rebounds with seven assists and five steals and was 7-of-8 on foul shots; Mayo averaged 9.0 points and 6.5 assists with four assists, two steals and a block; Clark averaged 7.0 points and 5.5 rebounds with nine assists, a steal and block. As a team, the Warriors shot 80.6 from the foul line (29-of-36).
 
Eastern visits Connecticut College (4-1) in a non-conference game Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Camels, who won their first three games this year by an average of 35 points, are coming off Saturday's 59-49 home win over Salve Regina University (Eastern's home opponent next Saturday). Eastern leads the all-time series with the Camels, 20-9 but had a four-game win streak vs. Conn ended last year in an 80-42 home loss. Conn finished 6-17 a year ago.