SALEM — Kylie Gates (Pembrok) and Abuk Teng (Manchester, N.H.) combined for 39 points to lead the Vikings to an 81-77 victory over Salve Regina on Saturday afternoon at Twohig Gymnasium, improving their record to 2-0 while the Seahawks fell to 1-1.
Gates led the team with 20 points in the game, while Ernidia Goncalves (Everett) recorded her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Salve Regina also had two players with double-doubles, with Sofia Neary (Wayne, N.J.) recording 18 points and 12 rebounds, and her sister Briana Neary (Wayne, N.J.) scoring 15 points and 12 rebounds. Ashley Rourke (Londonderry, N.H.) led the Seahawks with five assists.
After the game, Gates talked about her 20-point performance. “I think for our team a big thing is defense. We work defense first and defense makes our offense go, so we got some steals, pushed the ball and my team was able to get the ball up for some quick points.”
The game began with Salve Regina taking off on an 8-0 run, highlighted by Briana Neary and Sofia Neary’s three-pointers, which forced coach White to call a timeout.
After the game coach White expressed what went wrong to start the game. “I think we have to go back to defense, and contest every shot that they started off with. We knew this was going to be a tough game coming in. They are really big in size, they are well coached. We knew that we had to make some adjustments at some point regardless.”
Gates scored a three-pointer to cut the lead to five, but the Vikings were down by eight before Goncalves made both free throws to bring Salem State back into the game. The Vikings were then able to take advantage of a Seahawks’ turnover, and Teng sprinted towards the basket to make a layup, making it a four-point game. The Vikings took a one-point lead when Gates scored on the right side of the basket, but Salve answered right back late into the period with a two-pointer. The Seahawks had a one-point lead at the end of the first period, by a score of 16-15.
During the second period, Salve Regina went on a 6-2 run before it ended with Jaylen Nieves (Chicopee) making a good pass to Abigail Bunce (Spencer, N.Y.), who notched a two-pointer. Coach White decided to call a 30-second timeout when the Vikings were down by eight, 29-21. After the timeout, the Vikings started to play really well late in the period and finished off on a 13-3 run to end the second period. The Vikings had a two-point lead at the half, by a score of 36-34. Teng and Goncalves combined for 20 points at the half.
After the game coach White reflected on her team ending the half strong. “I think it definitely gave us the momentum that we needed to go into half and come back in the second half. There was a big change of how we started the game and we needed that momentum shift.”
At the start of the third period, Salve Regina began with an 8-2 run that ended when Goncalves banged in a two-pointer. Salve continued to dominate the third period as they were up by five by a score of 45-40. The Vikings then went on a 5-0 run, which was highlighted by Gates, who was responsible for four of the five points. Bunce made a two-pointer and went to the line for a three-point play to tie the game at 47. Both teams were competitive, and it was a neck-and-neck battle. During the final two minutes of the third period, the Seahawks were down by three, 55-52, but then went on a 7-0 run, which was highlighted by Amanda Folan’s (North Attleboro, Mass.) three-pointer.
The Vikings were down by a point, by a score at 60-59 heading into the last period of regulation. Nicolette D’Itria (Revere) banged in two different three-pointers to put the Vikings ahead, and Nieves also hit a three-pointer to put the Vikings up 66-60, which forced Salve Regina head coach to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Seahawks managed to tie the game at 69 as they went on a 9-3 run. The Seahawks and the Vikings were tied at 73 with just 3:17 left of regulation. Late in the game, Salem had a two-point lead, 79-77 with 54.8 seconds left. The Vikings extended their lead when Gates made two free throws, as they held on for an 81-77.
After the game, Gates talked about how the momentum from the previous two games to start the season will carry on to Tuesday. “We have great momentum right now, we are on a roll and we just got to keep pushing and keep going.”
Salem State will now travel to Providence to take on Johnson and Wales on Tuesday. Game time is at 5:00 p.m.
Abuk Teng – Shooting
