Women's Hoops Falls to Westfield, 69-50

WESTFIELD, Mass. - Jill Valley scored 21 points to lead Westfield State to a 69-50 win over Bridgewater State  in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) game at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Westfield ran out to an early 18-10 lead behind eight early points from Forbasaw Nkamebo. Westfield was able to repeatedly break Bridgewater's pressure and used good ball movement to lead to layups.

Bridgewater rallied to pull within one, 24-23 on a pair of free throws by Megan Boutilette with 5:38 left in the half, but the Owls held the Bears scoreless for the final five and a half minutes of the half to lead 28-23 at the break.

The Bears hung around for the first four minutes of the second half, trailing 34-29 after a Jennie Lindland layup with 16:04 to play, but from there the Owls steadily pulled away, opening the lead up to a 17 point margin, 52-35, after an extended 18-6 run over the next nine minutes.

Westfield shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half , and finished 6-10 on three-point tries, and recorded 21 assists on their 27 baskets.

Jen Ashton added 13 points and seven assists for the Owls, while Nkamebo finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.  Valley added seven assists, six rebounds and five steals in a fine all-around performance.

Bridgewater was led by 14 points and nine rebounds from Boutilette, Vanessa Conceicao added 10 points and six assists. Boutilette increased her career rebounding total to 776 as she needs just four rebounds to tie and five to break BSU Hall of Famer Lynn Malkasian's all-time career mark of 780

Westfield State improves to 10-4 on the season and 2-0 in the MASCAC. Westfield next hosts Salem State next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Bridgewater falls to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the MASCAC Bridgewater will host Framingham State on Tuesday evening.

Notes: Boutilette moved into 15th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list as she now has 1,015 points in her career.