Lancers Look To Knock off Westfield State In Semifinals
Worcester, MA --- After getting swept twice in the regular season to Westfield State, the Worcester State women’s basketball team looks for revenge this time when they face the Owls tomorrow in the MASCAC Tournament Semifinals.
Tournament Bracket
Worcester, MA --- After getting swept twice in the regular season to Westfield State, the Worcester State women's basketball team looks for revenge this time when they face the Owls tomorrow in the MASCAC Tournament Semifinals.
"Last year we beat them twice and they beat us in the first round of the MASCAC's," said senior guard Erin McCullough. "This year they have beaten us twice and it would be really great to beat them on their court."
"While Westfield went 11-1 through their conference schedule, they are still a beatable team," said forward Brianne Flanders. "They just don't take a break. They play the full 40 minutes and they try to out hustle you. It's just going to be a question of who wants it more."
Winners of five of their last six games and five straight MASCAC opponents, the Lancers (10-16) defeated MCLA 77-63 this past Tuesday to advance to the semifinal round to face top-seed and host Westfield State (20-4), who received a first-round bye.
WSC is led in scoring by sophomore guard Alexis George, named to the all-conference team this past week, who averages 12.1 points per game (seventh in MASCAC) while first-year guard Kaleigh Charette has tallied 9.3 points per game with six rebounds per contest. Flanders is fifth in the MASCAC in rebounds with 7.3 boards while junior forward Reilly O'Keefe has averaged 10.9 points and 4.8 caroms through her last ten games since returning from a mid-season injury.
The Owls are paced by senior forward Andrea Wasuk, this season's MASCAC Player of the Year, who has averaged a conference-best 14.9 points. Wasuk also has connected for .509 percent from the floor (second in MASCAC) with 6.3 boards (ninth in MASCAC). Senior guards Lauren and Katie Sylvain have combined for 5.5 assists per game while they have also collectively made 63 treys this season shooting .378 percent from beyond the arc.
"Player by player we really match up with them really well," said McCullough. "This shouldn't be a blowout. It is going to be one of those games that's going to be really close at the end."
Down the stretch the team has played extremely well defensively and offensively. Through their first eight games of their conference slate (going 1-7), Worcester State averaged 54.4 points while allowing their opponents to score 66 points.
Since the start of their 5-1 run, the Lancers have scored 62 points while holding their opponents to just 53.2 points. WSC has also allowed the opposition to shoot just 33 percent of their field goals and 18 percent from beyond the arc (17-93).
"On offense and on defense, something just clicked for us," said McCullough. "Instead of playing 15 out of the 40 minutes, we've been playing the full 40 minutes."
Flanders said that when the team was in last place, few around the conference anticipated that they would actually make a run that would allow them to clinch the fourth seed and a home game in the MASCAC Quarterfinals.
"No one really expected us to do that well," said Flanders. "It's been a tribute to what a team can do when it puts its mind together."
The winner of tomorrow's 5:30 game will face either sixth seeded Salem State or #2 Fitchburg State in the championship game on Saturday at 1 PM at Westfield State. The Lady Vikings and the Falcons face-off in a rematch at 7:30 from last year's semifinal that saw SSC win 71-55.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Web-
MASCAC Women's Tournament Preview