WORCESTER, Mass. – Western New England's Emily Anderson (Rocky Hill, Conn.) scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Golden Bears to a 64-39 victory over the Worcester State Tuesday (Nov. 22) evening inside the Lancer Gymnasium.
With the win, Western New England improves to 2-2 on the season, while the Lancers match them at 2-2 with the loss.
The first period saw nine lead changes and was an even battle between the two teams. Worcester State saw their largest lead (3) of the game with nine minutes remaining in the second period on a layup from Kaitlyn Berkel (Waterford, Conn.). It was then that the Golden Bears turned the game around with an 11-0 run in the next four minutes of play. Worcester's Britt Herring (W. Brookfield, Mass.) ended the Golden Bears' scoring streak on a layup with 3:36 left on the clock. However, Western New England outshot the Lancers throughout the remainder of the stanza and ended up with a 33-21 lead going into the intermission.
Western New England dominated the third period as they scored 13 points and held the Lancers to just four. Up 46-25 going into the fourth period, the Golden Bears protected their lead and did not allow Worcester State a chance at a comeback.
Anderson piloted the offense with a game-high 17 points while Sammie Battaini (Leominster, Mass.) followed with 11 and a game-best four assists. On the defensive end, Paige Young (Berlin, Conn.) collected a game-high eight rebounds while Meghan Orbann (E. Hampton, Conn.) notched three steals.
Worcester's Berkel led the team with nine points, four rebounds, three steals, two blocks and one assist. Both Herring and Brianna Hackett (Hollis, N.H.) collected eight points apiece, while Kate Surprenant (Pelham, N.H.) tallied seven. Herring was the leading rebounder and blocker of the night with seven and four, respectively.
The Golden Bears outshot the Lancers in both field goal percentage and free throw percentage, registering 24-of-58 (41.4%) shots from the field and 9-of-15 (60%) shots from the charity stripe.
The Lancers will take a break over the Thanksgiving Holiday and resume play on Sunday (Nov. 27) when they travel to Wellesley for their first road game of the season. The Golden Bears return to action on Wednesday (Nov. 30) when they travel to Salve Regina for a 5:30 p.m. matchup.