Women's Basketball Comes From Behind To Defeat Rival Bridgewater State, 50-44

Worcester, MA --- Junior Bianca Langford (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) registered her 14th double-double of the season with 12 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks to help pace Worcester State to a 50-44 victory over Bridgewater State in MASCAC women's basketball action this evening at the Laska Gymnasium.

In the victory the Lancers improve to 14-8 overall (5-4 MASCAC) while the Bears fall to 12-10 and 6-4 against league opponents.

With the score tied up 27-27 at the intermission, Bridgewater State took advantage of several WSU miscues and missed shots to take over the 38-27 advantage with 14:22 left in the game.

Senior Megan Boutilette (Charlton, MA) hit a pair of buckets and sophomore Chantelle Melton (Brockton, MA) finished off the 11-0 run with consecutive lay-ups in the surge.

But the Lancers came storming back as senior Kiesha Jones (Worcester, MA/Doherty) drilled two field goals and classmate Julie Frankian (Millbury, MA) drained a trifecta in a 12-0 spurt to help the Lancers take over the 39-38 edge around the 11 minute mark.

Over the next five minutes, both squads traded baskets and the Bears took over the lead for the final time on two points in the paint by Boutilette to put the visitors up 42-41 with 5:19 on the clock.

The Blue and Gold then took control of the contest and built up a 47-44 margin around the 2:00 mark when senior Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, MA) dropped in a lay-up and Langford chipped in with four points in the mini-run.

Following a miscue and a missed field goal by the Bears, Boutilette had a key rejection with 1:12 left to preserve the one possession contest, but she missed a basket on the other end which put the Lancers in prime position entering the final minute.

Freshman Nani Perez (Worcester, MA/Doherty) hit the back-end of a bonus try to put the Lancers up  48-44 before BSU senior Melissa Diangle (Rockland, MA) missed a three-point attempt on the next series for the visitors.

In the waning moments, Frankian sank both of her two tries at the line with 10 seconds on the clock for what proved to be the final score.  

The Lancers took over the early 15-7 advantage around the halfway point of the opening frame and led 23-16 with 5:23 on the clock.

Sparked by eight points in the paint by Boutilette, Bridgewater State sliced into the deficit with an 11-2 run and took over the 27-25 edge with 34 ticks left in the first period.

Frankian, however, helped the Lancers tie up the score at 27-27 with a running lay-up as both squads went into the locker room for the intermission.

El-Qasem finished with 12 points and four boards to pace the hosts as Frankian added 11 points, four rebounds and four helpers.

Boutilette had a game-best 18 points with 11 rebounds, eight steals and three blocks while Melton and sophomore Jennie Lindland (Edgartown, MA) ended the night with nine points apiece.

Worcester State shot a modest 39 percent effort from the floor (20-for-51), but only drained two of their 12 attempts from downtown.

Bridgewater State connected for 31 percent of their shots overall (18-for-59) and hit just seven of their 27 tries in the second period (26 percent) while also only canning one of their 12 long range bids.

For the contest, the Bears utilized 13 steals to force 19 Lancer miscues while scoring nearly half of their offense off of turnovers (20-11). BSU also had the slight lead in overall rebounds (37-36) and doubled up the hosts in offensive boards (12-6).

The Blue and Gold bench outscored their counterparts, 12-10.

In upcoming action, the two squads return their attention to their remaining MASCAC slate this Saturday at 1 PM. Worcester State heads to Westfield State as Bridgewater State entertains Fitchburg State.

Below: The Worcester State women's basketball team wearning pink during warm-ups to support the Play4Kay Fund and to raise money for breast cancer awareness

Play4Kay Fund