Women's Basketball Pulls Away for 86-65 Win over Wheaton

NORTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team is headed to Hawaii after earning a non-conference road victory Saturday afternoon.

The Bears improved to 4-5 with an 86-65 win over Wheaton College at the Emerson Gymnasium, giving them four straight wins in the series with the Lyons.

BSU, which had lost two games earlier in the week to MIT and Brandeis University, will play its next two games at the Big Island Holiday Classic in Hawaii.

The Bears, who leave Wednesday morning, open on Friday night against Angelo State before playing the host team, Hawaii Hilo, on December 17.

Against the Lyons, BSU finished the game on a 15-2 run to pull away after holding an eight-point advantage with just over six minutes remaining. Wheaton was limited to just 10 points in each of the final two quarters.

Junior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) once again led the Bears, scoring 23 points to go with six rebounds and three steals.

Senior Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had 18 points while junior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) contributed 12 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two steals.

Senior Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.), who missed all but one quarter of the past three games with an injury, returned and had 11 points and four assists.

Freshman Emily Quinn (Lancaster, Mass.) scored 11 points and junior Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) grabbed seven rebounds to go with six points.

Wheaton (4-6) was led by sophomore Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) with  13 points and nine rebounds. Seniors Maddie Mueller (Carver, Mass.) and Emma Kiernan (Wayland, Mass.) scored 12 points each.

BSU opened the fourth quarter with a 67-55 lead before baskets by Mueller and Kiernan pulled Wheaton within 67-59 with 8:38 left.

A Walters layup with 6:40 remaining had the Lyons within 71-63, but the Bears dominated the rest of the way.

They outscored Wheaton by that 15-2 margin in the final 5:59, limiting the Lyons to just a basket by sophomore Madeline Duwe (Greenville, S.C.) in that stretch. Wheaton committed five of its 20 turnovers.

BSU received two baskets each from Tripp, Quinn and Grassi (who also made a foul shot) and a basket by junior Jordan Pebbles (Middleboro, Mass.) as the lead went from eight to 21.

The Bears were in front, 24-19, after one quarter after jumping to a 17-9 lead. Wheaton closed within three before a Tripp layup in the final minute.

BSU had a 28-19 early in the second quarter, but Wheaton rallied for leads of 37-36 on a basket by Walters and 41-39 on a Kiernan jumper. The Lyons led, 45-42, but the Bears scored the final six points of the half (two layups by Quinn and a D'Amours basket) for a 48-45 halftime lead.

BSU had a six-point lead near the midway point of the third quarter, then seized control by going on a 9-2 run with five different players getting points for a 65-52 lead that became 67-55 entering the last 10 minutes.

The Bears limited the Lyons to 38 percent shooting while making 47 percent of their shots.

Wheaton was just 2 of 11 from 3-point range while BSU was 3 of 13. The Bears scored 25 points off 20 turnovers and held a 52-36 edge in the paint.