Opening Conference of New England (CNE) action tonight on Kanas Court, Gordon College Women's Basketball battled the Bison of Nichols College where despite a massive 32-point fourth quarter from the Fighting Scots, Nichols came out with the 89-84 win.

Rookie Woynitu Ciccarello netted a game-high 23 points, fellow rookie Sami Monighetti added 14, while Ami Rivera chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds

Abrianna Vazquez paced the Bison with 20 points, followed by Alyvia Smith with 14, and Summer Klein with 12 points.

How It Happened

• A Sophie Peters layup put the Scots on top, 15-11 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. However, the Bison were able to flip the script to hold the 19-15 advantage going into the second.
• Leah McGarvey drained a shot from downtown to cap off a 7-0 run by the home team to trail by five (33-28). Gordon finished strong down the stretch to bring the score to 37-33 in favor of the Bison at halftime.
• In the third, Nichols attacked offensively to lead by 17 at the end of the frame.
• Monighetti sank three from behind the arc to shrink the deficit to 10 with 6:15 on the clock. The Scots continued to fight, outscoring the Bison 10-2 to make it a seven-point game with just under two minutes remaining in regulation. Ciccarello's gritty defense forced a steal and the rookie went up to hit a layup to cut the Bison's lead to five with 26 seconds on the clock. However, the Bison were able to escape with the narrow win.

Beyond The Box Score

• Rookie Sami Monighetti netted a career-high 14 points.
• Freshman Woynitu Ciccarello has reached the 20-point threshold in three games already this season.
• Ami Rivera recorded her second double-double of the young season.
• The Fighting Scots return to CNE play this weekend as they take the short trip to Beverly, Mass. to square off against the Endicott College Gulls at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 7.