Bridgewater State Women’s Basketball in Final Round

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team is just one win away from a three-peat.

The top-seeded Bears will be bidding for a third consecutive Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship on Saturday afternoon when they host third-seeded Westfield State University.

BSU (22-3) earned a spot in the final round with a 77-65 victory over fourth-seeded Framingham State University on Thursday night at the Tinsley Center for its 10th straight win.

The Bears and Westfield State will play at 1 p.m. at the Tinsley Center with the winner getting an automatic bid in the NCAA Div. 3 tournament, which starts on March 1.

"It's a two-game season,'' said BSU coach Bridgett Casey. "We've got one game under our belt and now we've need to finish it off.''

The Bears, who defeated Framingham State by 25 and 32 points during the regular season, trailed the Rams only once at 4-2 and led by double digits for the final 19:18, the advantage getting as high as 22 points.

BSU used the same formula that has made it so successful this season – balanced scoring and a swarming defense that did struggle late when Framingham State got within 11 with a 10-0 run.

"Any time you face a team three times, you know it's going to be tough,'' said Casey. "They were going to throw out everything they have and they certainly did. Our kids kept their composure when we needed to. We stopped the bleeding.''

Senior Michaela Cosby led the way with 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go with six rebounds. She moved into 10th place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,052 points and came through with clutch plays whenever the need arose.

"That's been her career,'' said Casey. "She's the heart and soul of this team. Some things show up in the stat line and some are hustle plays. She's going to be missed, but we're two-plus weeks away from that.''

Jenna Williamson scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half and made consecutive 3-pointers that opened the lead to 61-41.

Alana Watkins came off the bench to contribute 14 points in 14 minutes, hitting 6 of 9 shots and getting out on the break to make things happen.

Megan Boutilette had 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals while Elisha Homich dished out 15 assists, tying a school record that was set by JoAnn Runge on Feb. 6, 1985 against Clark University.

BSU held a 31-25 halftime lead, then used a 13-3 run in the second half to seize control. The Bears made 61 percent of their shots after the break, finishing at 57 percent.

"Defensively, when it's going well for us, it leads to easy baskets,'' said Casey. "You have to bring it on defense and there was a time where we got away from out defensive concepts.

"It's got to be 40 minutes of good, hard defense to win Saturday and go beyond that.''

BSU defeated Westfield State, 63-47, at home on Jan. 12 but had to overcome a 14-point second-half deficit to get past the Owls on Feb. 2 for a 49-46 win.

"It was a dogfight up at their place and it's fresh in their minds,'' said Casey. "They'll come in with a chip on their shoulder. We'll have a bull's eye on our back. ''