Comeback Effort Falls Short for Women's Basketball Against Framingham

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Worcester State University women's basketball team could not close out its comeback bid on Wednesday evening, falling to Framingham State University 62-59 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference action at John P. Brissette Court.

With the loss, the Lancers' four game winning streak comes to an end, and the team drops to 9-4 overall on the season, and 1-1 in the MASCAC. Framingham State improves to 10-4 and stays perfect in the MASCAC at 2-0.

The win is Framingham State head coach Walter Paschal's 300th career NCAA coaching win, and 100th at the helm of the Rams.

After the teams played a tightly contested first quarter that ended tied at 18, the second quarter was all Rams. Worcester State shot just 2-for-13 in the quarter, including 0-for-6 from three, while the Rams hit four triples to outscore the Lancers 18-4 and go the to locker room with a 36-22 lead. Ram junior Mary Kate O'Day (Berlin, Mass.) led all players with 11 first half points.

The third quarter saw the Lancers begin to chip away at Framingham's lead, but a three with 25 seconds left in the quarter from sophomore Camille Desrochers (Westford, Mass.) was a tough pill to swallow to close out the quarter, and the Lancers trailed 50-39 heading into the final stanza.

Worcester State impressed on both ends of the floor in the early stages of the fourth quarter, opening the period on a 12-0 run to take their first lead since the first quarter. A layin by Tiphani Harris (Revere, Mass.) would finally end the run with 4:17 left in the quarter to put the Rams back on top by a score of 52-51, and was the first of four lead changes in the game's final minutes.

After a lay up by Worcester State senior Emily Carens (Northborough, Mass.) tied the score at 59-59 with 1:03 to go, the Rams were able to close it out from the charity stripe. After junior Emily Velozo (Tewksbury, Mass.) put in one of two with just over 40 seconds remaining, junior Julia Sanborn (Dracut, Mass.) closed it out with a pair of clutch free throws with 15 seconds left to seal the deal. The Lancers were unable to get away a shot in the possession that followed and the Rams held on for the victory.

Harris and Lancer senior Brittany Herring (West Brookfield, Mass.) finished as the game's co-high scorers, each putting in 16 points. O'Day finished with 15 points for the Rams, while Worcester State's Kaitlyn Berkel (Waterford, Conn.) and Kate Surprenant (Pelham, N.H.) also finished in double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively. Herring also served as the game's leading rebounder, pulling down nine boards in the loss.

The Lancers will look to return to the win column with on Saturday when they host MCLA at 3 p.m. at Brissette Court. Framingham State will travel to Salem State for their next contest, also on Saturday at 3 p.m.

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