Women’s Basketball Third Seed in MASCAC Tournament

Framingham, Mass. – After capturing a share of the 2014 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season title, the Framingham State University women's basketball team will be the third seed in this week's MASCAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament.

The Rams shared the regular season crown with Bridgewater State University and Westfield State University after all three teams finished with an 8-4 mark in the conference this season. By virtue of the conference's tiebreaker policy, the Bears will be the top seed, the Owls the number two seed and the Rams will slide into the third spot.

Bridgewater State and Westfield State earn first round byes in the tournament and will each host a semifinal match-up on Thursday evening.  The Rams will host sixth seed Worcester State University on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in one quarterfinal, while fourth seed Salem State University will host fifth seed Fitchburg State University on Tuesday evening in the other quarterfinal.  The winner of the Framingham/Worcester game will face Westfield State, while the Salem/Fitchburg winner will travel to Bridgewater.

The Rams finished the regular season with a 15-10 overall record under first year head coach Walter Paschal and were led by senior guard Kristen Hoffman (Foxboro, Mass.) and freshman forward Alycia Rackliffe (Feeding Hills, Mass.).  Hoffman, who started all 25 games this season, averaged 14.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game as she became the program's second all-time leading scorer.  Rackliffe, who missed the first half of the season with an injury, has seen action in 14 games and has been recognized as the MASCAC Rookie of the Week five times.  Rackliffe is averaging 13.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.