Hackett Puts Up 20 Points in Win Over Clark; Lancers Advance to Worcester City Championship

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester State University Lancers and the WPI Engineers both advance to the Worcester City Tournament Championship game scheduled for tomorrow at 7 p.m. after defeating both Clark and Becker in Friday (Nov. 18) night's first round of games.

Worcester State 70, Clark University 61

Four Worcester State University players scored in double digits, as the Lancers defeated Clark University 70-61 in the opening Worcester City Tournament game.

"We had a great win with against a good team," commented head coach Karen Tessmer.

Worcester's Brianna Hackett (Hollis, N.H.) led the team with 20 points, as she went 6-for-11 from beyond the arc. Bianca Langford (Worcester, Mass.) recorded her first double-double of the season of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Britt Herring (W. Brookfield, Mass.) and Catherine Sweeney (Lowell, Mass.) had 15 and 10 points, respectively, while Sweeney gathered a game-high five steals and five blocks. Off the bench, Kate Surprenant (Pelham, N.H.) notched a game-best seven assists on the night.

"Bri Hackett had a great offensive game as she hit clutch shots and made two three's at the buzzer to give us momentum," said Tessmer. "We had key contributions off the bench as well as Kate provided us with good passes."

As a team, the Lancers shot 51.9 percent from the floor, and 58.3 percent from three point range.

Leading the Cougars was Ogechi Ezemma (Hope Valley, R.I.) who was just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and 19 points. She also tallied two assists and a team-best three steals. Sam O'Gara (Worcester, Mass.) scored 15 points, while Sami Dokus (Littleton, Mass.) put up eight.

After a tight first period where the largest lead for either team was only three and there were four ties, the Cougars went ahead in the second period on a 6-0 run with six minutes left on the clock on points from Dokus and Ogechi.

Despite the largest lead of the game yet, the Lancers closed in that gap before the half when Hackett swished a three and Langford brought the Blue and Gold within one on a layup just a minute later. After a Clark free throw and another layup from Langford, the teams were knotted up with one minute remaining in the second quarter at 27-27. The tie kept place when each team put up a layup in the last minute. However, Hackett gave the Lancers some energy going into the intermission when she netted a three at the buzzer to advance the score to 32-29 in Worcester's favor.

The Lancers started the third period with three back-to-back shots to extend their lead to nine. Throughout the remainder of the period, Clark wasn't able to close the gap to any less than six, as Hackett kept raining three's and netted another buzzer beater at the end of the third.

Clark came out with a blast in the final period on shots from Ezemma, Haley Wilder (Rindge, N.H.) and O'Gara to tighten the score at 51-48. The two teams battled it out until Hackett started a scoring spree for the Lancers with 2:45 remaining, resulting in a final score of 70-61.

WPI 72, Becker College 30

Senior Priscilla Dunphy (Barrington, R.I.) scored a game-best 14 points as WPI advanced to the Worcester City Women's Basketball Tournament title game with a 72-30 win over Becker.

Juniors Ama Biney (Worcester, Mass.) and Maura Buckley (Melrose, Mass.) followed with nine and eight points, respectively, as 15 of the 18 Engineers scored in the effort. Biney also recorded five of the team's 19 steals. Classmate Stasha Greenalch (Newington, Conn.) handed out a contest-best eight assists.

Rookie Cassidy Harrison (Foxborough, Mass.) logged 11 points for Becker as sophomores Ciara McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) and Adrianna Dowdy (East Haven, Conn.) shared game-high honors with five rebounds.

WPI jumped off to a quick start as they scored 20 unanswered points before Becker's McKissick made a free throw and Mariah Triplett (Coral Springs, Fla.) netted a jump shot to put the Hawks on the board. In the second period, the Engineers outshot the Hawks 19-6 to progress the score to 38-12 going into the half.

The Hawks improved in the second half as they put up 11 points in the third quarter on shots from McKissick, Harrison, and Erin Gaudette (Spencer, Mass.). However, WPI posted 18 points in the third and another 16 in the fourth which resulted in a final score of 72-30 Engineers.

Becker (0-2) and Clark (0-2) meet at 5 p.m. in the consolation game and the Engineers (1-1), who are seeking their third consecutive title and eighth overall, face host Worcester State (2-0) at 7 p.m.