Women's Basketball Opens New Year With Triumph Over WNEC

Worcester, MA --- Junior Kaleigh Charette (Worcester, MA) notched 20 points and eight rebounds while senior Kathleen Foley (Hudson, NH) drained 15 points as they both helped lead Worcester State to a 67-60 victory over Western New England this afternoon in non conference women's basketball action.

The Lancers (6-5) were also paced by freshman Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) and sophomore Kara Rogers (Lowell, MA) who contributed eight points apiece. Rogers swiped three balls as senior Becca Giguere (W. Brookfield, MA) dished out a trio of assists.

Charette connected for 7-for-15 from the field while she also added six points from the free throw line to tie her career-high in scoring. Foley's total marks her highest scoring output of the season as she nailed four of WSU's seven three pointers.

Sophomore Elena Radzikowksi (Medway, MA) propelled the Golden Bears (7-3) as she notched her first career double-double with a team highs of 13 points and 11 boards. Second-year Shelby Van Hysen (Killingsworth, CT) and senior Kelly McCormick (Manchester, CT) each netted 12 points as they combined for 15 rebounds.

The game was played before a capacity crowd of 650 people as the Worcester State Women's Basketball team hosted four local schools as a part of "Math Madness", a program designed by the university Math Department to help students learn about mathematics through basketball.

Worcester State held a 15-13 advantage midway through the opening period before the hosts used an 11-2 run for the 26-15 lead with 8:14 left.

With WSU ahead 30-17 at the 4:15 mark, Western New England trimmed the lead down to eight on five straight points by Van Huysen, but that was as close as they would get. The Lancers had a 12 point lead in the waning seconds, but senior Tayrn Belowsky (New Haven, CT) drilled a three-pointer for the 36-27 score at the half.

Coming out of the locker room the Golden Bears went on a 6-3 spurt in the first four minutes to cut the lead to four points (39-35), but Charette recorded a traditional three point play to up the lead back to seven.

Over the next five minutes of play WNEC got to within five points twice, but the Lancers responded every time to keep it a two possession game.

With Worcester State up 49-43 with 10:16 left, WSU went on an 8-2 skein to bring the lead back into double-digits. Western New England countered with six straight points after a three-point play by Radzikowski at the 5:20 mark to trail 57-51, but that was as close as they would get.

The Lancers built up the lead back to 12 points before the Golden Bears utilized a tenacious full-court press to try to get back into the game. WNEC also tried to stop the clock by fouling and the strategy worked, but the visitors ran out of time.

Worcester State would go 4-for-14 from the charity stripe in the final 2:57 as Western New England made things interesting by outscored the hosts 9-3 during the same amount of time, for the final score.

For both squads the shooting percentages was a tale of two halves. In the opening stanza, Worcester State shot a 48 percent clip (13-for-27) from the field before they hit 35 percent in the final period (10-for-29). Western New England would be held to shoot 8-for-24 in the first half (33%) before they would improve to connect for 13-for-28 (46%).

WSU held a 43-30 rebounding advantage as they parlayed 23 turnovers into 21 points. The Golden Bears had a 13-9 edge in second-chance points while they were both even in bench scoring (27-27).

Both teams will begin their respective conference schedules on Saturday afternoon. Worcester State will entertain MCLA at 3 PM while the Golden Bears head to Curry for a 1 o'clock game.

Western New England is in search of their first win on the road as they are now 0-3 when visiting their opponents.