Women’s Basketball Comes from Behind for 71-59 Win Over Westfield State
Framingham, Mass. – The Framingham State University women's basketball team overcame a five point half time deficit to defeat Westfield State University 71-59 this afternoon in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) women's basketball action at Framingham's Athletic Center.
With the win, the Rams improve to 10-7 on the year and 2-4 in the conference, while the Owls fall to 8-10 overall and 1-4 in the MASCAC.
With the Rams leading 7-6, the Owls used a 12-4 run to take the half's largest lead (18-11) with 9:31 remaining. Freshman guard Jen Ashton (Beverly, Mass.) started the spurt with back-to-back threes and capped the run with a driving lay-up in traffic. The Rams answered with a 9-4 run of their own with junior guard Madeleine Park (Blue Hill, ME) scoring five on the spurt including a deep three from the top of the key to cut the Owls lead down to two (22-20) with just under six minutes on the clock.
The Owls pushed the lead back to seven on a lay-up from freshman forward Gabby Felix (Springfield, Mass.) and an Angela Paterson (Nantucket, Mass.) three pointer before the Owls took a 33-28 lead into the locker room.
Westfield State extended their lead back to seven in the opening minute of the second half on a Felix layup, but it was all the Rams after that as a trifecta from sophomore guard Kristen Hoffman (Foxboro, Mass.) and buckets from junior forward Kia Minor (Edgartown, Mass.) and senior Emily Clark (Melrose, Mass.) tied the score (35-35) with 17:46 on the clock. A steal by Hoffman and a feed to Park on the wing for a three put the Rams in the lead for good. The Rams extended their lead to as many as 12 points as they held the Owls to just six points over a nine minute stretch in the second stanza.
The Owls cut the Rams lead to 61-53 with 1:15 left in the game on a three from Patterson, but that was as close as the Owls would get as the Rams went 8-of-10 from the line and received a layup from senior Jill Johnson (Mansfield, Mass.) in the closing minute to seal the win.
Hoffman led a trio of Rams in double figures with a team-best 19 points including 9-of-9 from the free throw line to go along with six boards, five steals and five assists. Hoffman has not missed a free throw since January 5th and in the last six games is a perfect 30-for-30 from the line. Park, who was coming off a career-best 32 points on Thursday night, chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds with four assists, while Minor finished with 13. Sophomore guard Cassie Liston (Stoneham, Mass.) finished with nine points and three helpers.
The Owls were led by Ashton's game-high 21 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field. Ashton filled the stat sheet with seven boards, four assists and five steals, while Felix was the only other Owl to reach double figures with 11 points and seven boards. Senior Jenny Bell (Northampton, Mass.) grabbed a game-high 12 boards for the Owls who outrebounded the Rams 41-40.
The Rams return to action next Thursday when they host Becker College in a non-conference game beginning at 6 p.m., while the Owls host Fitchburg State University on Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m.