Women's Basketball Closes Semester With 63-57 Triumph Over Springfield

Springfield, MA --- Junior Bianca Langford (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) notched her fourth double-double of the campaign with 16 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks to help pace Worcester State to a 63-57 win over Springfield in non-conference women's basketball action this evening at the Blake Arena.

For the Lancers (6-3), senior Julie Frankian (Millbury, MA) recorded 21 points and four assists as classmate Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, MA/Wachusett) added 15 points off of a 6-for-8 line from the floor and eight boards.

Freshman Nani Perez (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) stuffed the stat sheet with six points, five helpers and three caroms.

Senior Jaimie Bickelhaupt (Brookfield, CT) led the Pride (2-4) with a team-high 14 points and sophomore Lexi Windwer (Milton, MA) pitched in with 11 points, seven rebounds and a trio of swipes.

Freshman Heather King (Lebanon, NH) was effective in her 19 minutes off the bench with 12 points, four rebounds and a duo of steals for the hosts.

After both teams traded baskets in the early goings of the contest, Worcester State took over the 14-8 advantage around the midway point of the first half due in large part to a traditional three-point play by Perez and two straight baskets by Langford.

With WSU holding the 23-17 margin just before the 6:00 mark, King and Windwer paced the Pride in the surge as the hosts closed out the frame with an 11-4 run to take a one point lead into the locker room (28-27).

In the skein, King had a pair of field goals and Windwer hit a triple with 39 seconds left before she gave her team the lead on a jumper with three seconds on the clock.

Worcester State took over the games momentum to start off the second half. Over the first 7½ minutes, the Lancers utilized a 13-4 spurt to take over the 40-32 edge with four different players contributing points.

Springfield responded by sinking their next four baskets in an 8-0 spurt to knot up the score 40-40 with 8:51 on the clock.

Following a junior Heather Lewis (Saratoga Springs, NY) lay-up and a Windwer trifecta that helped the Pride take over one-point advantage as 5:16 read on the clock (46-45), the Lancers took the lead for good on two straight field goals by El-Qasem and Langford which put the visitors up 49-46 less than 30 ticks later.  

Frankian then gave the Blue and Gold some breathing room by nailing a three-pointer and she canned two points at the charity stripe for the 56-49 margin with 2:08 remaining in regulation.

Springfield took advantage of missed a trio free throws and used one final kick at the end which culminated in a trey by Bickelhaupt to pull within two points in a 60 second span (57-55).

After Frankian missed both of her tries at the free throw line, she redeemed herself by rejecting a Windwer three-pointer and Langford corralled a key rebound on the offensive board and unsuccessful second triple attempt by Windwer.

WSU went three-for-four from the free throw line in the games waning moments at the end to seal up the victory.

Worcester State shot 43 percent of their shots for the game (21-for-49) and 48 percent alone in the second period (10-for-21) while also holding the 24-20 margin in the paint. The Lancers, however, missed nine baskets at the charity stripe (16-for-25 – 64 percent).

The Pride were held to a modest 33 percent line in the contest (22-for-66), but only dropped in two of their 10 attempts in the second half from three point land.

Rebounding was even (40-40), but Springfield held leads of points off turnovers (14-6) and used a 16-9 offensive board edge to lead in second-chance baskets (11-10).

Worcester State will kick off 2015 in style by playing Salem University in North Carolina on New Year's Day. Springfield plays next Saturday in the opening round of the Daytona Shootout against SUNYIT at 4 o'clock.