MASCAC Women's Basketball Tournament Preview
Worcester, MA --- Sophomore Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) tallied a game-best 17 points with nine rebounds and three helpers to help pace Worcester State to a 59-57 triumph over Salem State on the final day of the regular season.
With the win the Lancers improve to 12-13 (6-6 MASCAC) while the Vikings slip to 11-14 (7-5 MASCAC).
SSU earns the second-seed in the upcoming MASCAC tournament and a first-round bye. The Blue and Gold, who will be the fifth-seed, travel to #4 Westfield State for a 5:30 match-up on Tuesday. Top-seed Bridgewater State hosts the semifinals on Friday.
Junior Meghan O'Keefe (Warren, MA) notched her fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and a contest-best 17 boards senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) finished with 11 points and 13 caroms with four assists.
For the visitors sophomore Ginny Fleming (Peabody, MA) led the effort with 13 points and five rebounds. Senior Briana Comeau (Amesbury, MA) and first-year Rachel Carter (Salem, MA) both pitched in with eight points and 11 boards as Carter ended with six steals and Comeau was a force with four blocked shots.
Junior Bridget Dullea (Peabody, MA) also chipped in with 10 points and a team-best three dishes.
Worcester State held the six-point edge on two occasions midway through the opening half before the Vikings cut the lead to two at the 7:16 mark (19-17). The Lancers answered ending the frame with a 7-3 run capped off by a Burns baseline jumper at the buzzer for the 26-20 edge at the intermission.
After the Blue and Gold staked the 30-25 advantage with 15:57 left, Salem State went on a 5-0 spurt over the next 2½ minutes to knot the score.
A three-point play by Burns at 13:01 put WSU up 33-30, but madness would ensue as there would be eight lead changes and a trio of ties as O'Keefe helped put the Lancers back on top 45-42 with a three-point play of her own at the 5:13 mark.
Salem State then equaled the score by making three of four at the free throw line with 4:21 remaining before Burns and Charette helped put Worcester State on top 49-45 with four consecutive points at the charity stripe (49-45 – 2:36).
After Feming sank two at the line to get within two points (49-47), both squads missed opportunities to either take the lead or tie the score over the next 60 seconds. Comeau would come though with a key-block for SSU with 47 seconds remaining to set the stage for Carter's game-tying lay-up with 26 ticks left.
Burns would miss an open jumper with seconds left on the clock as the game as the contest would go into overtime.
O'Keefe opened the extra session hitting the back-end of a bonus opportunity before there were seven consecutive lead changes over the next 3:08.
As 42 seconds remained in overtime, Salem State took the 57-56 advantage on the back of field goal in the paint by Carter, but then Burns would nail what proved to be the game-winning jumper at the left elbow with 18 moments left.
The Vikings would miss a lay-up and grab the offensive board, but coughed up the ball with three seconds left. After Charette hit the front-end of a chance at the free throw line to make the score 59-57, SSU threw their last chance on an inbounds right to the other baseline to end the game.
Both squads struggled from the field as the Lancers shot 31 percent for the game (22-for-71) and only connected on two of their 11 tries from beyond the arc. Salem State was 26 percent (20-for-77) as they only hit one of their 16 attempts from downtown.
Worcester State held the 60-52 advantage on the backboards and the 25-24 edge on the offensive glass while they also held the 21-11 lead in second chance points and the 10-4 lead in points off turnovers.
The visitors scored nearly a third of their points with a strong transition game (17-2) and they would force 23 Lancer miscues with 14 steals.
In a brief pre-game ceremony, Charette along with Molly Hein (Hudson, NH) and Katie O'Connor (Taunton, MA) were honored on "Senior Day" for playing in their final home contest.
Charette also moves into ninth place on the all-time scoring list passing Courtney Gagnon's (1995-99) total with 1,152 points. She is just 35 points away from Lancer Hall of Famer Renee Marcotte's sum.