Brooklyn Edges Women's Basketball, 70-66

Brooklyn, NY --- Brooklyn senior Megan Campbell (Tobyhanna, PA) connected on nine of her 13 tries from the field for a contest-best 22 points as she helped lead the Bulldogs to a 70-66 victory over Worcester State in non-conference women's basketball action this afternoon.

With the win Brooklyn improves to 3-1 while the Lancers even out to 2-2 on the season. WSU continues their NYC trip with a 1 PM matchup with Mount Saint Vincent on the other side of the Hudson River.

The hosts were also paced by junior Nacirema Mann (Brooklyn, NY) and teammate Carissa Williams (Baltimore, MD) who both notched 12 points apiece and teammate Nicole Francomano (Staten Island, NY) had an unconventional double-double with 10 points and 10 assists.

Mann and Cambell both grabbed eight and seven rebounds, respectively, for the Maroon and Gold.

Senior Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) had a team-high 19 points while she also finished with seven boards, five swipes and four assists.

Sophomore Julie Frankian (Millbury, MA) also added 17 points and five rebounds as junior Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, MA/Wachusett) chipped in with 11.

The opening frame featured a remarkable nine ties and three lead changes where WSU held the largest lead at four on two occasions – including the 31-27 edge with 3:25 left.

Brooklyn, however, ended the first period with the 35-34 margin at the break after senior T'Keyah Francis (Brooklyn, NY) sank the back end of a bonus try.

The hosts came out strong to start off the final stanza as they doubled up the Lancers, 10-5 to take a 45-39 lead over five minutes in.

As the Bulldogs held the 50-45 advantage with 10:45 left, the visitors went on a 6-0 spurt to take the 51-50 edge at the midway point.

The contest continued to go back and forth with a pair of lead changes and a trio of ties. Junior Kelli McPherson (Mansfield, MA) jacked a trey to knot the score for the third time with 3:16 remaining in regulation.

But Brooklyn used two free throws by Francomano and back-to-back jump shots by Mann to take the 68-62 margin with 1:05 on the clock. WSU also missed their chances from the field while also failing to convert an opportunity at the charity stripe with the bonus arrow on their side.

Burns did help slice into the deficit on a field goal and Frankian canned two free throws in the waning moments, but Francomano sank two points at the line and Campbell registered a key steal to run precious time off the clock for the final score.

The hosts led in rebounds (44-35) and used an 18-9 margin on the offensive glass to outscore the Lancers in second-chance points (14-10). The Bulldogs also held the edge in points in the paint (30-18).

WSU hit 52 percent of their attempts in the opening frame (13-for-25), but only went 33 percent in the second stanza (10-for-31). They also drilled just three of their 15 attempts from downtown.

The Lancers distributed the ball well with 19 team rebounds for 23 field goals made and were solid from the charity stripe overall (17-for-21 – 81 percent).

Brooklyn had a modest percentage for the game (41 percent – 27-for-66) and its bench outscored their counterparts, 21-10.

The Bulldogs hop on the Brooklyn Bridge to take on NYU on Tuesday, December 3 after the Thanksgiving holiday.

You can follow the Worcester State Lancers on Facebook and Twitter