WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State University downed the visiting Fitchburg State Falcons 74-62 in Saturday afternoon's Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup. With the win, the Lancers advance to 7-9 and 3-0 in the conference, while the Falcons dip to 5-7 and are still in search of their first conference win.
After trailing 9-6 midway through the first quarter, Worcester State responded with a 10-0 run on buckets from Britt Herring (W. Brookfield, Mass.), Bianca Langford (Worcester, Mass.), and Emily Carens (Northboro, Mass.), to outscore the foes by a total of 15-9 in the stanza.
The Blue and Gold racked up a 14-point lead in the first five minutes of the second quarter, until the Falcons saw three triples from Allysa Rivera (Chelsea, Mass.) and a layup from Kerry Brodbeck (Boston, Mass.) to tighten the Lancers' lead to just five. Following back-and-forth buckets from both teams, Worcester State completed the half ahead 35-27.
Hackett came out of the locker room with a triple to put the Lancers up 11, however Fitchburg State responded with one of their own. The Lancers kept a comfortable lead until the Falcon's Amy Connolly (Dedham, Mass.) scored a layup halfway through the third to bring Fitchburg within four. Worcester State closed out the third quarter ahead six, however, the Falcons would put up a fight in the beginning of the fourth.
Fitchburg's Connolly registered points in the paint while Shabeli Villa (Lawrence, Mass.) drained a three in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to get within one point. Worcester State put four points back up to follow and would not let the Falcons get any closer than that. In the last three minutes of play, Worcester State went on a 10-3 run to seal the 74-62 victory.
A quartet of Lancers scored double digits, as Herring put up a game-high 16 points, Kaitlyn Berkel (Waterford, Conn.) Brianna Hackett (Hollis, N.H.) tallied 14 apiece, and Langford collected 12. Hackett connected on 4-of-8 triples at 50%, while Berkel led the boards with eight. Kate Surprenant (Pelham, N.H.) piloted the offense as she notched five assists.
For the Falcons, Kyra Rose (Rockland, Mass.) grabbed a team-high 14 points, while Rivera scored 12 and Villa and Connolly scored 10 apiece. Michaela McTomney (Bellingham, Mass.) led Fitchburg State on the boards with eight.
As a team, the Lancers shot 50% from the field, and 44.4% from 3-point range.
Worcester State returns to action on Wednesday (Jan. 19) when they travel to Bridgewater State for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.