Worcester, MA-- Top-seeded Bridgewater State University posted an 83-67 victory over #5 Worcester State University in the semifinal round of the 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Basketball Tournament on Friday night at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 20-6 on the season and advance to the MASCAC championship game for the second straight season and tenth time overall. Bridgewater will host #3 Westfield State University in the conference title game on Sunday at noon. The Lancers end the season with an overall mark of 11-16.
Junior forward Katie Hurynowicz (Tyngsboro, Mass.) paced Worcester State with a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and two assists. Graduate center Sarah Blomgren (Lunenburg, Mass.) contributed 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots for the Lancers.
The first half featured eight ties and two lead changes. With the score knotted at 30-30 late in the second quarter, the Bears closed out the period with an 8-2 run to take a 38-32 lead into the break. Tripp scored four points during the run including an off-balance jumper with time winding down.
Tripp and Grassi tallied ten points apiece over the first 20 minutes to lead all players. Blomgren paced the Lancers with eight.
Bridgewater shot 36.8% (14-38) in the first half and went a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line. The Bears missed on each of their six three-point attempts. The Lancers connected on 39-4% (13-33) of their first-half field goal attempts, including 2-for-6 (33%) from behind the arc, and went 4-for-6 (66.7%) at the charity stripe.
Early in the third quarter, Worcester closed the gap to two (39-37) following a traditional three-point play by Hurynowicz and an Erin Gallella (Sr., Tewksbury, Mass.) layup. The Bears answered with a 9-2 run, highlighted by a Grassi trifecta and four points from Piche, to pull ahead, 46-37. Bridgewater would ultimately take a nine-point lead (54-45) into the final period.
An Erin Gallella three-pointer less than a minute into the fourth quarter pulled the Lancers to within eight (56-48). That would be as close as the visitors would get. A 10-2 BSU run, spurred on by a pair of three-pointers from Cleveland and senior forward Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.), made it a 16-point game (68-52) with 6 ½ minutes left to play. The Bears would get up by as many as 19 points on three occasions in the period including an 81-62 advantage following a Cleveland layup with 2:10 showing on the scoreboard.
Bridgewater shot 40.8% (31-76) for the game and finished 17-for-19 (89.5%) at the free throw line. After going 0-for-6 from behind the arc in the first half, the Bears knocked down 4 of 9 three-point attempts over the final two quarters. The BSU defense forced 21 turnovers which led to an 18-4 advantage in points off turnovers. The Bears also held a 42-32 edge in points in the paint.
The Lancers shot 42.4% (25-59) from the floor and 33% (5-15) from three-point range on the evening and went 12-for-20 (60%) at the stripe.