WORCESTER, Mass. – A quartet of Worcester State women's basketball players scored double figures on Saturday (Jan. 7) to defeat the visiting Salem State Vikings 63-56 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) play.
The quartet consisted of Kaitlyn Berkel (Waterford, Conn.), Bianca Langford (Worcester, Mass.), Brianna Hackett (Hollis, N.H.), and Britt Herring (W. Brookfield, Mass.) who scored 20-14-13-10 points, respectively. Berkel and Langford registered double-doubles as Berkel picked up 10 boards and Langford notched 11. Langford also led the game in blocks with five, while Herring denied four Viking shots. Point guards Kate Surprenant (Pelham, N.H.) and Catherine Sweeney (Lowell, Mass.) each handled five assists throughout the contest.
Salem State's Norma Waggett (Saugus, Mass.) led all scoring with 22 points and went 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Kaitlyn Bryan (Lowell, Mass.) scored 10 points for the Vikings, while Christina Corey (Methuen, Mass.) picked up eight off the bench. Saran Kaba (Dorchester, Mass.) tallied six points, a team-best seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals on the afternoon.
After one tie with 7:16 to go in the first quarter, the Lancers took the lead on a triple from Berkel and never looked back. Worcester State reached a 10 point lead 7:34 into the game on a layup from Sweeney.
Salem State cut the Lancers' lead to just two early in the second after Corey closed out the first quarter with a jumper, and then Kaba started the second frame with a layup. Following back-to-back buckets from each team, Worcester State then went on a 10-2 run with 7:53 remaining in the second to increase their lead to 14. The teams would eventually go into the locker room with a score of 35-24 in the Lancers favor.
Following the intermission, the Vikings came out and cut the Lancers' advantage to just five with 5:17 remaining in the third. The Vikings got even closer with 1:34 remaining in the third stanza when Bryan received an and-one to close the gap to four. However, Worcester State added four more to the scoreboard to close out the quarter ahead eight.
Worcester State gained their largest lead of the game of 13 twice in the final stanza, and eventually secured their second MASCAC win, despite a momentous triple from Waggett with five seconds remaining.
The Lancers generated a superior field goal percentage than the Vikings at 39.7 percent; however, the Vikings shot a stunning 91.7 percent from the free throw line to top the Lancers' free throw shooting percentage.
Worcester State (6-7, 2-0 MASCAC) will resume play on Monday (Jan. 9) when they travel to UMass Dartmouth for a non-conference matchup, before hosting No. 1 Tufts in a "Math Madness" noontime game on Wednesday (Jan. 11). Salem State (8-7, 0-2 MASCAC) hosts MCLA in a 7:30 p.m. MASCAC game on Wednesday.