Warwick natives Elayna Comella and Francisco Lopez are both competing on the collegiate hardwood this winter, each experiencing ups and downs as players aiming to earn more playing time off the benches of their respective schools.

Comella has checked into a half-dozen of Eastern Connecticut’s 13 games to date, logging eight minutes and scoring a season-high five points in the Warriors’ most recent contest, a 75-45 rout at the hands of Wheaton this past Saturday.

The La Salle alumna has seen her on-court opportunities increase since the start of December, taking part in four of ECSU’s last six games dating back to a December 6 meeting with UMass-Dartmouth.

Although the visiting Corsairs administered a 92-54 thrashing, Comella was one of the Warriors’ bright spots, racking up four blocked shots in a successful effort to prevent UMD from reaching triple digits.

Those swats form the overwhelming majority of the five that the former Ram has compiled to date, placing her in sole possession of third on the Eastern Connecticut ledger, six off the pace set by Taylor Salato.

At the other end, Comella is averaging 2.3 points per game and has dished off five assists, picking up a pair against UMass-Dartmouth and in a November 30 match-up with Smith that concluded in a 91-52 Pioneer triumph.

Venturing over to the Bay State, Lopez in in the midst of his second season as a member of the team at Curry College, who have cooled off as of late after starting the campaign in torrid form.

Appearing in eight contests as a freshman last winter, the Toll Gate product has seen action in four games thus far for the Colonels, increasing his minutes per game from 2.3 to 4.0 in the process.

A key part of the uptick came in Curry’s December 30 clash with New England College, an 89-81 upending of the Pilgrims in which Lopez played a career-high 11 minutes and tied his previous best of five points.

Those were the first points that the ex-Titan contributed to the Colonel cause since the lone basket he recorded in the team’s 63-58 season-opening win over Lesley on November 10, kicking off a five-game winning streak for Curry.

During the run, the Colonels claimed three victories by less than five points, including a razor-thin one-point defeat of Salve Regina and a 79-77 overtime upending of UMass-Boston that was decided by a buzzer-beater at the end of the extra session.

However, what goes up must come down, and the Curry five has since crashed to earth, coming out on the short end of all but one of their eight most recent outings to plunge their record to 6-7 on the campaign.

The Colonels have a chance to return to the .500 mark when they travel to Gordon on Tuesday before locking horns with Hartford in a Saturday afternoon meeting with the Division III newcomers, joining after nearly four decades in Division I.

By comparison, Comella and the rest of the 4-9 Eastern Connecticut squad will have three games on their docket, going to New Hampshire to face Keene State and Plymouth State either side of Thursday’s home contest versus Vermont State-Castleton.