Springfield College Women’s Basketball Setbacks Worcester State, 63-51

WORCESTER, Mass. – Springfield College's Ava Adamopoulos (Ludlow, Mass.) piloted the Pride to a 63-51 win over Worcester State Friday evening at the Harrington Auditorium on the campus of WPI, registering 25 points and 11 rebounds (eight offensively) for one of two double-doubles on the night.

Also shining offensively for the Pride was sophomore forward, Heather King (Lebanon, N.H.) who logged 17 points and seven rebounds against the Lancers. Junior guard, Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) scored seven points, while Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) and Christa Brent (Wilmington, Mass.) scored five points apiece. Both Racette and Molly McCausland (Millbury, Mass.) led the team in assists with four apiece.

Worcester State's Kaitlyn Berkel (Waterford, Conn.) recorded the other double-double of the game, scoring 11 points and totaling 10 rebounds. Also scoring 11 points for the Lancers was junior guard, TaNajia Smith (S. Windsor, Conn.) who went 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Brianna Hackett (Hollis, N.H.) marked eight points for the Lancers, while Britt Herring (W. Brookfield, Mass.) and Samm Toli (Taunton, Mass.) had six and five points, respectively. Senior guard, Natasha Gonzalez (Milford, Mass.) scored four points for the Lancers while having a team-high six assists, seven rebounds, and three steals against the Pride.

Worcester State and Springfield College battled with each other in the first eight minutes with play, with the Lancers in the lead until Springfield's Adamopoulos came off the bench and caused an offensive threat to Worcester State. She made two back-to-back shots to give the Pride the 12-11 lead with 2:14 remaining in the first period. King upped Springfield's lead to 14-11 until Toli made a jumpshot for the Lancers to put the score within one. Though with one minute left in the first period, Springfield put up two shots for an 18-13 lead going into the second quarter.

The tempo was set by Springfield in the beginning of the second period, as Adamopoulos scored six unanswered points to increase the Pride's lead to 11. Springfield kept their lead throughout the entirety of the second period, as the teams went into the intermission with a score of 34-22 Springfield.

After the teams joined up again, Worcester State put on a fight in the third period. Free throws by Smith and Gonzalez with three minutes remaining made it an 8 point game in the third. Smith made a jumper with 2:10 remaining to shorten the Pride's lead to six, and then Toli made a deep 3-pointer with 46 seconds left on the clock, putting the Lancers within three. Just before the end of the third period, Smith made a free throw to make it a 42-40 game with the Pride on top.

Springfield came out strong in the fourth period, as the two point deficit for the Lancers got out of reach on shots from Adamopoulos and a pair of good free throws from McCausland. With 3:19 left in the game, Worcester's Berkel made a layup to make it a five-point game, but good free throws from Springfield College resulted in a 63-51 score at the end of regulation.

Worcester State shot an overall 36.5 percent from the field, while the Pride had the advantage at 41.1 percent. Despite the loss, Worcester State outshot the Pride in free throws in percentage, going 83.3 while Springfield College went 76.2 percent from the line.

With the win, Springfield College advances to 5-2 on the season, while the Lancers drop to 3-5. Next up Springfield College will travel to Suffolk on Monday (Dec. 14) before their winter break. The Lancers will take a two week break before traveling to Arizona for the Arizona Shootout from Dec. 29-30.