Worcester State 64, Salem State 62
Bridgewater, MA --- Third seeded Worcester State College pulled
off the second upset of the evening as the Lancers downed number
two seed Salem State College, 64-62, in the semifinal round of the
2010 MASCAC Women’s Basketball Tournament held this evening
at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.
Worcester (15-12) advances to the MASCAC Championship game for the
first time since 2003 when they were the sixth seed. The Lancers
will take on fourth-seeded MCLA in the title game tomorrow at 4 PM.
MCLA knocked off top seed Bridgewater State College, 61-53, in the
other semifinal matchup. Salem State falls to 18-8 on the
season.
Worcester was led by senior forward Reilly
O’Keefe (Warren, MA) who notched a game-high 18
points as she was 8-for-9 at the free throw line and 5of 9 from the
floor. Senior forward Bri Flanders (Southampton,
MA) added nine points and a career-high 19 rebounds for the
Lancers. Sophomore guard Kaleigh Charette
(Fairhaven, MA) chipped in with 13 points, three rounds, three
assists and two steals, while junior guard Alexis
George (Worcester, MA) was also in double-figures with12
points.
Freshman center Brianna Wilson (Lowell, MA) paced the Lady Vikings
with 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Freshman guards
Erica Batchelder (Stoughton, MA) and Margaret Wallace (Lowell, MA)
also finished in double-figures with 14 and ten points
respectively.
The opening stanza would see five ties and four lead changes as
Salem State held the largest lead twice at the 15 minute mark
(10-5) and with 3:48 left in the period (23-18). Jenkins would
convert a lay-up in the closing seconds of the half for the 25-23
edge at the intermission.
Worcester State opened the second frame with a 10-2 run as they
took a 35-27 advantage at the 16:42 mark. Batchelder drained a trey
to make it a five point game, 30 seconds later, but that was as
close as they would get for the next seven minutes as the Lancers
maintain more than a six point cushion through that stretch.
With WSC ahead 44-35 at 11:06, the Vikings used a 7-2 surge to
trail by just four points (46-42), but O’Keefe nailed a
jumper to end the rally with 7:58 left.
Worcester State continued to preserve their advantage as SSC
stayed in hot pursuit over the next five minutes as the Vikings got
no closer than four points.
It was at the 2:35 mark that the Vikings made their push as they
swiped an inbounds pass to pull to within two points to make the
score 54-52, but the Lancers scored four consecutive points –
which included a three-point play by Charette – to go back up
by six (58-52) with 1:27 remaining.
Worcester State led 60-54 before Stokes knocked down a pair of
free throws followed by Wallace making one of two from the charity
stripe after a turnover. Charette converted two free throws which
was answered by a driving lay-up by Wallace with 29 seconds
remaining.
Salem State was forced to foul and O’Keefe canned a pair of
free throws to put the Lancers back up by five (64-59). Batchelder,
however, was fouled trying to make a three-pointer in desperation
and she consequently knocked down all three of her free throw
attempts to make it a one-possession game at 64-62 with 10 seconds
left.
The Vikings forced a miscue on the inbounds pass and called a
timeout with four seconds left, but a short baseline jumper by
Wilson was blocked by freshman forward Meaghan
O’Keefe (Warren, MA) as time expired.
Portions of Release Courtesy of Bridgewater State Sports Information