Women's Basketball Slips By Fitchburg State to Stay Unbeaten in MASCAC Play

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team overcame an eight-point second-half deficit to stay undefeated in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Playing without leading scorer Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.), the Bears slipped past Fitchburg State University, 69-64, to improve to 9-9 overall and 5-0 in the conference.

Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) led BSU with 19 points, hitting three 3-pointers, while Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) added a career-high 17 points plus 10 rebounds for her fourth career double-double.

Eryn Rice (Medway, Mass.) chipped in with a career-high 13 points to go along with five rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench while Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) had nine points and five rebounds in 23 minutes of action off the pine.

Also contributing to the win were Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) with 10 rebounds and six points, Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) with seven rebounds and four points and Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.) with five rebounds and four assists as well as a career-high tying six steals.

Fitchburg State's Stephanie Hart (Shirley, Mass.) had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while teammates Aliza Som (Lowell, Mass.) and Mikayler Patch (North Attleboro, Mass.) also scored in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bears faced a 47-39 deficit with 1:40 left in the third quarter after the Falcons (4-12, 1-3 MASCAC) scored nine straight points, capped by a Patch layup.

But BSU responded with an 11-1 run in the final 1:22 to take a 50-48 advantage going into the final 10 minutes.

Peeples began the spree with a three-point play with 1:22 remaining, and a 3-pointer by Bradbury closed the deficit to 47-45 with 52 seconds left.

Following a Hart foul shot, Rice made a 3-pointer with 27 seconds to go to tie the game, then made a layup for the lead with seven seconds remaining.

BSU had missed 11 of its first 13 shots in the quarter while falling behind by eight points.

The Falcons took a 56-55 lead in the fourth quarter on three foul shots by Hart, but that would be the last time the Bears trailed.

Gaucher made a 3-pointer with 4:40 to go for a 58-56 BSU lead and a layup by Rice made it 60-56 with 2:52 left.

After Som converted a three-point play to get Fitchburg State within 60-59, BSU went on a 7-1 run for a 67-60 lead with 43 seconds left. Rice hit a 3-pointer and Gaucher made a layup and hit two foul shots.

BSU led, 17-10, after one quarter as it went on a 15-0 run after the Falcons took a 2-0 lead. Fitchburg State missed seven shots and had four turnovers during that run, but the Falcons finished the quarter with six straight points.

The Bears had a 30-27 halftime lead despite shooting 30 percent and missing 12 of 14 shots from 3-point range. BSU was up, 28-19, midway through the second quarter but missed six shots in a row and managed just a Gaucher layup the rest of the way.

BSU shot just 34 percent, including 7 of 31 from 3-point range, while Fitchburg State shot 36 percent and was 3 of 13 from long range.

The Bears turned 22 Falcons' turnovers into 27 points and had 16 offensive rebounds.

Both teams stuggled at the free throw line, particularly in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. The Bears went 12-for-22 (54.5%) at the stripe including 4-for-10 over the final 43 seconds of the contest. The Falcons converted on 15 of 20 free throws over the first three periods but went just 6-for-12 at the line in the fourth quarter.

BSU returns home for a noon game on Saturday against Westfield State University in a rematch of last season's MASCAC championship game.

Fitchburg State will be at Salem State on Saturday at noon.

Notes: The win marked the 200th MASCAC regular season victory for Head Coach Bridgett Casey. Casey is 200-105 (.656) against MASCAC opponents during the regular season over her 27 years at the helm of the BSU women's basketball program...Bradbury moved into sole possession of third place on the Bears' all-time made three-point field goal list. She now has 162 three-pointers in her career.