Women's Basketball Rolls to 79-45 Win over Johnson & Wales

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team cruised to a 79-45 victory over visiting Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears, who have won each of the last three meetings of the two teams, improve to 3-0 on the season, while the visiting Wildcats fall to 0-2.

Six players scored in double-figures for Bridgewater State led by a game-high 15 points from junior guard Kylee Piché (Bridgewater, Mass.) who also pulled down five rebounds. Senior forward Maggie Hester (Braintree, Mass.) added 12 points, equaling her career-high, on 6 of 8 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three assists, while junior guard Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) notched ten points and three assists.

Junior guard Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.), junior forward Nina Morrison (Raynham, Mass.) and senior guard Hannah Dziadyk (Wakefield, Mass.) all came off the bench to score in double-figures for the Bears. Gaucher tallied a career-high 12 points and pulled down three rebounds. Morrison finished with a career-best ten points and five boards, while Dziadyk added ten points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

The Bears dominated the first quarter outscoring the Wildcats, 24-5, with Bradbury scoring seven points in the opening session. Bridgewater got up by as many as 30 points on two occasions in the second quarter including a 42-12 lead with 3:30 remaining following a pair of Gaucher free throws. The Wildcats, however, closed out the half with a 9-0 run, capped off by a Sydney Butera (Smithfield, R.I.) three-pointer, to cut the deficit to 42-21 as the two teams headed to the locker room.

Piché led all players with nine points over  the first 20 minutes, while Gaucher added eight points in nine minutes off the bench. Freshman guard Jada Johnson (Sayreville, N.J.) paced JWU with six first-half points.

Johnson & Wales got as close as 18 points in the third quarter before the Bears used a 10-0 run early in the final period to put the game out of reach. Hester dropped in six of her 12 points during the spurt. Bridgewater got up by as many as 35 points the rest of the way and coasted to the 79-45 victory.

Sophomore guard Autumn Ford (Brooklyn, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats with nine points, four rebounds and a pair of steals. Classmate Sarah Wisniewski (Naugatuck, Conn.) added eight points, three rebounds and a pair of assists for the visitors, while freshman forward Rose Hockman (Morris Plains, N.J.) pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Bears shot 45% (33-74) for the game and went 10-for-13 (77%) at the free throw line. The BSU defense forced 27 turnovers and held the Wildcats to 25% shooting (16-63). Johnson & Wales also connected on just 10 of 22 (46%) free throw attempts.

Bridgewater finished with a decided edge in both points off turnovers (23-5) and points in the paint (56-10). The BSU bench also outscored the JWU reserves by a margin of 34-17.

Both teams are back in action on Thursday evening. The Bears entertain Regis College at seven o'clock, while the Wildcats host Elms College at 5:30.