Women's Basketball Drops 89-82 Decision to MIT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team opened a stretch of seven straight games away from home with a non-conference loss.

The Bears dropped an 89-82 decision to MIT on Tuesday night at the Rockwell Cage as they were outscored, 25-15, in the third quarter after holding the halftime lead.

It was the first meeting ever between BSU and MIT (5-2), which recently defeated eighth-ranked Tufts University.

BSU (3-4) was led by junior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.), who scored 20 of her career-high 31 points in the first half as the Bears were in front, 47-42, at the midway point. Grassi added five assists and a game-best five steals.

Senior Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points while senior Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) added 10 points and a career-best nine assists while filling in at the poing guard position.

Junior Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) had a career-high 14 rebounds and junior Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) contributed eight points and eight rebounds.

MIT was led by graduate student Christina Antonakanis (Holmdel, N.J.) with 20 points (hitting five 3-pointers) to go with eight assists.

Junior Kamsi Nwogu (Algonquin, Ill.) added 14 points, 12 rebounds and three steals and junior Angie Choi (Cypress, Calif.) scored 13 points while grabbing four rebounds.

The Engineers also received 10 points each from reserves Rachael Zacks (Glencoe, Ill.) and Olivia Joseph (Newton Square, Pa.).

MIT turned 20 BSU turnovers into 31 points and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds. The Engineers also outscored the Bears, 25-11, in second chance points.

BSU shot 50 percent from the field, but the Engineers held a  14-8 advantage in 3-pointers.

After leading by as many as six points in the first half and holding the five-point edge at halftime, BSU was outscored, 17-6, to start the second half.

MIT went up, 59-53, on an Alice Hall (Ambler, Pa.) jumper. The Bears' last lead of the game was 53-51 when Gaucher hit a 3-pointers with 6:53 remaining in the third quarter.

A Bradbury 3-pointer closed BSU within 62-61, but MIT closed the quarter with a Choi 3-pointer and held a 67-62 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

MIT used a 10-4 run and jumped to a 77-66 lead in the fourth quarter.

The Bears pulled within 77-71 with 5:56 left after a Grassi 3-pointer and a layup by freshman Emily Quinn (Lancaster, Mass.), but they went nearly two minutes without scoring and fell behind, 81-71.

A three-point play by junior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) cut the MIT lead to 81-76 with 3:07 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Sarah Berman (York, Pa.) with 44 seconds left gave MIT an eight-point bulge.

BSU led, 27-26, after one quarter, making 11 of 17 shots. Grassi scored nine of her points, including a layup with nine seconds to go.

Neither team led by more than four points in the opening quarter. After MIT went up, 22-18, the Bears closed with a 9-4 spurt.

The Bears led for a good portion of the entire second quarter and had a 32-26 lead before MIT went on a 12-4 run. But BSU finished with an 11-4 flurry, capped by a Bradbury 3-pointer with 11 seconds left, for the 47-42 halftime edge.

BSU travels to Brandeis University on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. game while MIT is at Trinity College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.