Cuddihy, DePina Lead Women's Hoops to 8th Straight Win

Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior guard Corey Cuddihy (Scituate, MA) and sophomore forward Shelly DePina (New Bedford, MA) scored 18 points apiece to lead the Bridgewater State College women's basketball team to a 74-68 Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) win over Westfield State this afternoon in Bridgewater.

Bridgewater State remains unbeaten in conference play as the Bears, winners of eight straight games, improve to 7-0 in the MASCAC and 11-7 overall.   Westfield drops to 7-12 on the season and 1-6 in the conference.

Cuddihy finished a perfect 13-for-13 at the free throw line and added team-highs of seven rebounds and five assists. She set the program mark for made free throws in a game without a miss and also set the BSC all-time mark for made three-pointers with the 117th of her career. DePina was 8 of 11 from the field and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe.  She also grabbed four boards.

Junior guard Brittney Chappron (Braintree, MA) added 16 points for the Bears, while freshman guard Elisha Homich (Ludlow, MA) came off the bench to score 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting in just 18 minutes.  

Junior forward Christal Bello (West Boylston, MA) came off the bench for Westfield to score 18 points on 5 of 6 shooting.  She was also 8-for-8 at the free throw line and added two assists and a steal in 23 minutes.  Freshman guard Briana Kelly (Hampden, MA) also notched 13 points off the bench for the Owls.  36 of Westfield's 68 points came from the non-starters. 

Junior forward Ashley Finnegan (Worcester, MA) posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three steals.

Bridgewater State led 38-30 at the intermission as Chappron scored 11 points in the first half and Depina added ten.  Westfield battle back and had a 61-58 lead with 7:00 remaining in the second half.  A 9-2 BSC run over the next five minutes quickly erased the deficit as the Bears led 67-63 with under two minutes to play.  Two free throws by Bello pulled the Owls to within two points at the 1:53 mark.  Chappron, however, answered with a big jumper and the Bears knocked down five free throws in the final 30 seconds to come away with the victory.