BOX SCORE

NEWPORT, R.I. - February 5, 2011 - The Colby-Sawyer women's basketball team fell at Salve Regina, 56-40 on Saturday in The Commonwealth Coast Conference. 

Salve Regina remains perfect in conference play at 9-0, while improving to 18-3 overall. The Chargers dip to 11-9 overall and suffer just their second TCCC loss at 7-2. 

The league's leading offense struggled shooting the ball and could only muster 40 points against one of the top defensive teams in the conference. Both teams shot just 1-11 from beyond the arc, but Salve was 19-22 from the line and Colby-Sawyer was 5-8.

In the first half, the lead changed hands seven times and the score was tied five times. The Chargers went inside the lockerroom at the break up two (21-19) by going inside to freshman forward Mari Meserve for six points.

Salve Regina got more than half of its first-half production from its bench led by freshman forward Marissa Pendergast (Medfield, Mass.) and Lindsay Shorey (Ashland, Mass.) with six and four points, respectively.

In the second half, the Seahawks enjoyed a 24-9 run to build a double-digit advantage (43-32) with 7:31 remaining. Birrell's sixth steal of the game led to a breakaway layup that forged the seventh and final tie (27-all at the 15:00 mark).

Senior forward Erin Phillips (Morristown, R.I.), who scored all of her 12 points in the second half, made a short jumper with 14:27 remaining that gave the Seahawks the lead for good. Phillips and Pendergast both finished 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Meserve finished with a team-high 10 points for Colby-Sawyer which was looking to drop a TCCC team from the unbeaten ranks for the second-straight game. The Chargers defeated Endicott College on Thursday behind a career-high 28-point effort from Katelyn Stravinsky. Meserve and junior forward Kaitlin Fifield led the Chargers with eight rebounds apiece.

Pendergast, who finished with a game-high 15 points, shared team-high rebounding honors with Phillips (eight apiece). Shorey finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Chargers remain on the road with a contest at Gordon on Tuesday, February 8. Tip is scheduled for 6:00 pm.