FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Fourth seeded Worcester State saw their 2021-22 season come to a close on Thursday evening, as the Lancers fell to top-seeded Framingham State 81-63 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) women's basketball semifinals at the Athletic Center.
The Lancers end the year with a 12-14 mark, while Framingham State improves to 21-3 after posting their second consecutive undefeated conference season.
Gigi LeMay (Grafton, Mass.) led the Lancers with a team-best 17 points and 15 rebounds. LeMay connected on 7-of-18 from the floor and added two assists, two steals and three blocks.
Abby St. Martin (Putnam, Conn.) finished the night with 14 points on 7-of-12 from the floor and added seven boards, while Erin Gallella (Tewksbury, Mass.) finished the game with 11 points and four boards.
The Rams saw four players tally double figures in the game led by a game-high 22 points from Gwendolyn Carpenter. Carpenter connected on 5-of-9 from the floor including 4-of-4 from behind the arc to go along with five rebounds and eight assists.
Flannery O'Connor and Katty Haidul each recorded double doubles in the game for the Rams. O'Connor scored 21 points and grabbed 16 rebounds with two assists and two blocks, while Haidul scored 20 points with 11 rebounds and two assists.
Camille Desrochers added 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in the game, while Krysta Padellaro finished with seven points and four boards.
After trading points to start the game, the Rams used a 5-0 run to take a 10-4 lead midway through the quarter.
The Lancers closed the gap to four on an St. Martin jumper with just under four to play, but the Rams pushed the lead to 17-9 on an O'Connor bucket in the paint. The Lancers closed the quarter with four straight points from LeMay to close the first trailing 17-13.
The Rams opened the second quarter with a 14-4 run taking a 29-19 lead midway through the frame, but the Lancers closed the gap to seven, 31-24, with just over two to play in the half. The Rams scored nine straight including a three as the shot clock was expiring by Padellaro to give the Rams their largest lead of the half, 39-24.
A Calli Korbey (Hopkinton, Mass.) jumper for the Lancers would send them to the locker room trailing 39-27. Korbey finished the night with seven points, three assists and a steal.
Leading 47-37 three minutes into the third, the Rams rattled off a 12-2 run capped by a Desrochers three to take a 59-39 lead with just under three to play in the quarter.
The Lancers closed the quarter with an 8-4 run of their own to head to the fourth trailing 63-47, and then opened the fourth quarter with an 8-3 run cutting the deficit to 66-55 with 6:04 to play.
The Rams pushed the lead back to 70-55 after layups from Desrochers and O'Connor.
The Lancers would pull to within 11 on multiple occasions including on a pair of Erin Gallella (Tewksbury, Mass.) free throws with just under two to play, but the Rams tallied the final seven points of the game to secure the victory and advance to the tournament finals on Saturday, where they will host second seed Bridgewater State at 1 p.m.
Elizabeth Gallella scored 9 points and dished out a game-high five assists. She also had five rebounds and two steals. Emma Found (Wakefield, Mass.) had five points on 2-2 shootng, including 1-1 from three-point land.