Springfield, Mass. - Junior Peace Kabari (Manchester, N.H.) and sophomore Allie Morin (Westwood, Mass.) scored 10 points apiece to lead the visiting Trinity College Bantams to a 66-51 win over the Western New England University Golden Bears in women's basketball action this evening at the Alumni Healthful Living Center Gymnasium. Trinity improves to 13-3 and the Golden Bears drop to 9-7 with their third consecutive loss. Trinity will host St. Joseph's (L.I.) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader with the Bantam men against the Golden Eagles. Western New England entertains Gordon the same day at 1 p.m.
The game was very close for just over one quarter before the Bantams used a 7-0 run to turn a 20-all tie into a 27-20 lead late in the second frame. First-year Kaylen Campbell (Hillsborough, N.C.) ignited the run with back-to-back layups, and Trinity went on to lead, 30-22, at halftime thanks to a Morin layup and two Kabari free throws in the final minute. Western New England got as close at 40-36 with 1:43 left in the third quarter on two foul shots by Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.), but Trinity rookie guard Bailey Hyland (Broad Brook, Conn.) and senior center Courtney Erickson (Everett, Mass.) combined to score the final five points before the final break. Trinity took a double-digit lead at 47-36 less than a minute into the fourth quarter on an Erickson layup and maintained it the rest of the way.
Trinity dominated the boards with a 38-to-26 rebounding advantage including six each by Erickson, Hyland and Kabari. Morin added three steals to her 10 points and junior center Emily Peters (North Attleboro, Mass.) came off the Bantam bench to block a pair of shots. Golden Bear junior Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) led all scorers with 15 points and grabbed a team-high five rebounds, while classmate Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.) scored 10 points, and Farrell added eight points and four assists.