WESTFIELD, Mass. – A share of first place in the conference standings is on the line on Saturday, when the Owls' men's basketball team hosts league-leading Worcester State at 2:00 p.m. at the Woodward Center. Westfield enters the game a half-game back of the Lancers in the conference standings.
The Westfield State women host Worcester in the noon tip at the Woodward Center, where senior forward Jordan Grant enters the game with 972 career points, and an outside shot to become the 20th player in Owls basketball history to score 1,000 career points.
The Owl women sport a 12-9 overall mark and a 5-3 record in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, and sit solidly in third place in the conference standings. Worcester enters at 4-16, but 3-4 in the MASCAC, where they are just behind the Owls in fourth place.
Grant is the Owls second-leading scorer on the season, averaging 13.9 points per game. Classmate Olivia Hadla leads the Owls with 16 ppg, and hit the 1,000-point marker herself earlier this season. When Grant reaches the grand mark, she and Hadla could become the first set of Owl teammates to reach the 1,000-point barrier in just their third season of play. Both Hadla and Grant are "covid seniors" who did not play in the 2020-21 season when play was halted by the NCAA due to the pandemic.
Owls' junior guard Hannah Sheldon has been hot of late, netting 17 points in Wednesday's win over MCLA, and is averaging 10.7 ppg over the last seven contests.
Worcester is led by wing Katie Hurynowicz, who's scoring 17.5 points per game.
In the men's game, the two rivals have met for each of the last three conference championship games, so a fierce rivalry game is expected. Two matchups to keep an eye on: Westfield's Brendon Hamilton and Worcester's Ryan Rubenskas are two of the premier post men in the league. Hamilton ranks in the top 10 in the nation in rebounding (11.7) per game, and blocked shots (3.1) per game, and contributes 12.9 points per contest. Rubenskas just topped 1000 points for his career. He scores 14.6 points and grabs 9.2 boards per game. The battle on the block will go a long way in determining Saturday's outcome.
On the wing, Worcester's Aaron Nkrumah is the defending league player of the year. He leads the league in scoring at 18.9 points per game and is second in steals at 2.8. He'll be opposed by upstart Owls sophomore Juju Omot, who's scoring 15.9 points per game, but has been even hotter in the last three, when he has averaged 26.7 points per game, including a 31-point outburst in a win over Salem State.
The Westfield men are 14-6 overall and 6-2 in the league, while the Lancers enter 12-8 and 6-1 in the MASCAC.
If you can't make it out to the Woodward Center to see the games, you can watch online at WestfieldStateOwls.com or on the MASCAC.tv app on Roku and AppleTV devices. Westfield State students Zach Bianco, Brayden Cutler and Samantha Mains have coverage of the games. Livestats will be available at WestfieldStateOwls.com.