Women's Basketball Falls At Bridgewater State, 63-56

Bridgewater, MA --- Senior Shelly DePina (New Bedford, MA) and sophomore Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, MA) each scored 19 points to lead the Bridgewater State Bears to a 63-56 victory over the Worcester State Lancers in MASCAC women's basketball action this afternoon at the Tinsley Center.

With the win the Bears improve 16-6 and 9-1 in league play as they capture their fifth MASCAC Regular-Season Championship. The Lancers drop to 11-13 and 5-6 in the conference standings.

For the hosts DePina added nine rebounds and four blocked shots for the hosts while Williamson pulled down six boards. Sophomore Michaela Cosby (Walpole, MA) registered 13 points with six caroms and five assists. Sophomore Megan Boutilette (Charlton, MA) finished with seven points, a team-high 10 rebounds and four rejected shots.

Second-year Meaghan Burns (E. Brookfield, MA) paced the visitors scoring 12 of her 16 points in the second half while freshman Cheyenne Jennings (Worcester, MA/Wachusett) notched 10 points and three assists.

Junior Meghan O'Keefe (Warren, MA) also chipped in with eight points and seven boards and senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) added seven points and nine rebounds.

With the contest knotted 8-8 at the 14:27 mark in the opening period, Bridgewater State used a 13-0 run to take the 21-8 advantage a little less than 5½ minutes later as the spurt included trey's by DePina, Williamson and senior Ciara Shaughnessy (Lowell, MA).

Worcester State rallied with a quick 8-0 surge of their own to trail 21-16 with 8:13 on the clock, but the Bears would end the first period by doubling up and outscoring the visitors, 14-7, for the 35-23 edge at the intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, Bridgewater State ballooned their advantage by 20 points early on in the second on (47-27). Blue and Gold then whittled away the deficit to 13 on two occasions to trail 54-41 with 9:09 remaining.

As the Bears led 58-41 with 6:31 left in regulation, Worcester State forced five straight BSU miscues to make it a 58-50 contest at the 1:47 mark, with nine straight points.

After the hosts sank three of their next four attempts at the free throw line to make it an 11 point game, the Lancers trimmed the lead to 61-54 on consecutive lay-ups by Jennings and senior Molly Hein (Hudson, NH).

The Bears then turned the ball over before with 30 ticks remaining, but Worcester State could not take advantage of the opportunity as Boutilette recorded a block in the clutch and the Blue and Gold missed a three-pointer.

Williamson then canned two from the line with 16 seconds left and a last-second shot by WSU freshman Kelli McPherson (Mansfield, MA) marked the final score of the contest.

Bridgewater State finished shooting 40 percent for the game (23-for-57) and made 72 percent of their free throws (13-for-18). BSU also led in points off turnovers (20-14) and distributed the ball well finishing with 17 assists for 23 made field goals.

Worcester State led in total rebounds (45-40), offensive caroms (18-11) and second chance points (14-12) as they were 34 percent from the field for the contest and only connected for four of their 12 attempts from three-point land for the game.

The Bears avenge their only setback of the season at Worcester State (55-52) as the Blue and Gold actually outscored the hosts 33-28 in the second half.

Both squads will entertain Salem State in the next week. Bridgewater State heads to Salem on Tuesday for a 5:30 showdown while the Lancers will close out their regular season with the Vikings on Saturday afternoon on "Senior Day" at 4 o'clock.