Women's Basketball Falls in Thriller at Worcester State

Worcester, Mass. - Senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) tallied a game-best 17 points with seven boards to lead the Worcester State University women's basketball team to a 51-47 victory over Framingham State in MASCAC women's basketball action this evening at the Lancer Gym.

With the win the Lancers improve to 9-11 overall and 3-4 in conference play, while the Rams fall to 11-8 on the year and 2-5 in the MASCAC.

Framingham State hit four of their first seven shots from the field – including a trio of three pointers – for the 11-6 lead with 15:39 remaining in the opening stanza. The Blue and Gold would then use a 10-0 scoring spree to take over 16-11 advantage four minutes later.

FSU would then equalize the score at 17-17 at the 6:01 mark to set off a chain of two lead changes over the next 4½ minutes.

After a pair of points at the free throw line by freshman Kelli McPhearson (Mansfield, Mass.) that put the hosts ahead by three at 1:29, the Rams ended the period with two buckets of their own from the charity stripe and a jumper with two ticks left by junior Kia Minor (Edgartown, Mass.) for the 25-24 at the break.

Worcester State opened up a 31-25 advantage with a 6-0 run early on in the second stanza, but Framingham State countered with a 7-0 spurt to gain the one-point cushion with 12:34 left (32-31).

Sophomore Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, Mass.) and Charette combined for four points to help WSU retake the 35-32 lead before the visitors embarked on a 12-6 surge over the next 8½ minutes for the 44-41 edge on the back of a junior guard Madeline Park's (Blue Hill, ME) trey at the 3:23 mark.

The Lancers would then go on a 10-3 run to seize the momentum and the margin for good with the 51-47 advantage with 82 seconds remaining. Charette poured in seven points in the run and freshman Cheyenne Jennings (Worcester, Mass.) hit the game-tying trifecta at the 2:25 mark.

After a missed three-pointer by WSU with 38 ticks left, the Rams missed two attempts from the field for what turned out to be the final score.

Junior Meaghan O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) corralled a game-best 10 rebounds and first-year Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, Mass.) added eight points and eight caroms. O'Keefe, El-Qasem and Jennings logged nine of WSU's 14 assists as they each had three apiece. Burns was solid defensively with a squad-high five steals.

Park led Framingham State with 15 points and five caroms as Minor scored 10 points and finished with eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Kristen Hoffman (Foxboro, Mass.) had an all-around great game with 10 points, six steals and four boards.

Both squads connected for 35 percent shooting from the field for the game with the difference coming from behind the arc.  Framingham State canned 39 percent (5-for-13) and the Lancers only hit three of their 15 bids.

WSU also held slight advantages in rebounding (36-34), offensive boards (14-13), and points off turnovers (13-11).

Half of Worcester State's 18 turnovers were off of nine Ram steals.

The two teams will continue the second-half of their MASCAC slate on Tuesday. The Lancers will travel to Westfield State for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off, while Framingham State entertains first-place Bridgewater State at 6 p.m.

Release courtesy of WSU Sports Information.