Worcester State 66, Westfield State 61
Westfield, MA --- Junior reserve guard Natasha
Dallas (Roxbury, MA) had team highs of 15 points and seven
rebounds in Worcester State's balanced attack as the Lancers held
on for a 66-61 victory over Westfield State.
The Lancers survived a second-half Westfield comeback to defeat the
Owls for the second time this season. Worcester improved to 4-4 in
the conference and 6-14 overall. Westfield is 2-6 and 8-13.
Worcester shot well from the field in the first half (52 percent)
in taking a 31-26 lead at the intermission. The Lancers' biggest
lead was nine points, 44-35, with 15:33 remaining before the Owls'
mounted a fierce comeback.
Westfield outscored Worcester 19-4 over the next nine minutes to
take a six-point, 54-48 lead with 6:49 remaining. Andrea
Wasuk (Lenox, MA) and Katie Sylvain
(Hadley, MA), who finished with 22 and 17 points, respectively, key
the Owl scoring surge.
But Worcester didn't fold and made the plays down the stretch.
Trailing 57-54 with 4:20 remaining, the Lancers scored 10
unanswered points to take a commanding 64-57 lead with 19 seconds
remaining.
While Westfield had the top two scorers in the game, Worcester's
balanced attack was led by Dallas, sophomore forward
Brianne Flanders (Southampton, MA) with 13
points, senior forward Maureen Lemay (Nashua, NH)
with 11 points and four assists, and freshman guard Alexis
George (Worcester, MA) with 10 points. Erin
McCullough (Harvard, MA) and Lindsay
DellChaiaie (Leominster, MA) added eight and seven points,
respectively.
The Lancers shot 50 percent from the field and 81 percent
(17-for-21) from the foul line.
Westfield only committed 12 turnovers and shot 41 percent from the
field and 64 percent from the foul line. Wasuk was 10-for-13 from
the charity stripe, and Katie Sylvain posted teams highs of five
assists and seven rebounds.
Release Courtesy of Westfield State Sports Information