Charette Leads Women's Basketball Past MCLA, 69-57

Worcester, MA --- Senior Kaleigh Charette scored a career-high 26 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists as she helped Worcester State defeat MCLA, 69-57, in MASCAC women’s basketball action this evening at Lancer Gym.

February 4, 2012

Worcester, MA --- Senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) scored a career-high 26 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists as she helped Worcester State defeat MCLA, 69-57, in MASCAC women's basketball action this evening at Lancer Gym.

The Lancers improve to 10-12 overall and 4-4 in the conference as the Trailblazers slip to 11-10 and a 4-5 record in league play.

Junior Meghan O'Keefe (Warren, MA) recorded her third double-double of the season as she netted 12 points and hauled in 16 rebounds. Sophomore Meghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) added nine points and eight boards while freshman Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, MA) scored eight points, grabbed five caroms and had four swipes.

Charette remains in 10th place on the Lancers all-time scoring list with 1,125 points as she trails Courtney Gagnon by 19 points for the ninth spot.

MCLA was led by senior Alie Dobrovolc (Little Falls, NY) as she registered a strong all-around performance with 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Chenevert (Uxbridge, MA) scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed five caroms while junior Lucy Tremblay (E. Greenbush, NY) added 10 points, six boards and three steals.

MCLA began the game making their first two shots of the contest to grab the early 4-2 lead with 37 ticks off of the clock.

WSU would counter and go on a 10-0 surge as Charette scored seven of the points to give the Blue and Gold a 14-4 lead with 13:43 left in the first half.

The Trailblazers fought back over the next eight minutes to tie the game at 16-16 with 5:35 remaining in the opening period freshman Danielle Beauchamp (Cohoes, NY) and Chenevert scored four points apiece during the 12-2 rally.

WSU would close out the frame on a 9-2 run to grab the 25-18 lead at the intermission.

The Lancers pushed their edge to 15 points for their largest advantage of the contest to that point on the back of an El-Qasem layup with 15:47 left in the second stanza (38-23).

MCLA would double up the visitors over the next seven minutes as they would cut the lead to 48-41 with 8:10 on the clock as Dobrovolc netted six points during the 16-8 run.

After a scoreless stretch of 90 seconds, Worcester State would push the lead to double-digits on a traditional three-point play by Charette and then they would go basket for basket until time started to dwindle down as the Trailblazers started to stop the clock with fouls.

With the 62-52 cushion, WSU ended the game making eight of their final 12 attempts from the charity stripe as they were able to seal up the win.

Both teams had modest shooting performance as the Lancers shot 37 percent (23-for-62) while MCLA connected on 35 percent (24-for-69) of their shots from the floor. WSU ended the game holding the strong advantage in free-throws as they canned 75 percent from the charity stripe for the contest (21-for-28).

The Lancers held marginal leads in rebounds (43-45), points in the paint (38-30), second chance (17-12), and fast-break points (15-10) while MCLA had edges in offensive boards (21-18) and assists (13-12).

Both teams will resume their MASCAC schedule on Tuesday as Worcester State hosts Fitchburg State for an 8 PM tip-off while MCLA travels to Westfield State for a 5:30 PM tilt.

At the halftime of the women's basketball game, the Lancers will host National Girls & Women In Sports Day and recognize the outstanding team and academic accomplishments of their women's sports teams during the 2010-11 academic year.

Release by Jim Sarkisian – Sports Information Assistant