Posted: Feb 28, 2018
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State University women's basketball players Lucy Barrett and Kierra McCarthy were named the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference's all-conference teams, the league announced on Wednesday.
Barrett and McCarthy were both named to the second team.
Surprisingly, Westfield State had no players selected to the first team, in the ballot of the league's coaches which selects the teams.
Westfield (19-7) won the league with an 11-1 mark in the regular season, two games ahead of runner up Framingham, and then won the conference tournament with a 105-80 win over Worcester State in the semifinals and a 90-75 win over Framingham State in the championship game.
Junior guard Lucy Barrett (Mount Greylock/Williamstown, Mass.) leads the Owls in scoring at 15.8 points per game and two steals per game, while shooting better than 33 percent from three-point range. Barrett is one of the nation's best free throw shooters, connecting at a 93.4 percent clip this season. She led the league with 66 made three pointers, ranks third in scoring, and fourth in steals.
Junior guard Kierra McCarthy keys the Owls second line in the system attack. She averages 12.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and nearly three steals per game while shooting 35 percent from three-point range. She is coming off a weekend where she was named the MVP of the MASCAC Tournament. She ranked second in the league in steals per game (2.7) third in three point percentage, and seventh in scoring. Advanced metrics is where McCarthy truly shines, as she averages 29.9 points per 40 minutes played (second only to Barrett), leads the league with 6.4 steals per 40 minutes, and grabs more than 10 rebounds per 40 minutes of play.
Westfield is 52-4 in games against conference opponents over the past four seasons and will be making its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, when the Owls travel to play Tufts on Friday night.
Under 13th year head coach Andrea Bertini, the Owls lead nation in scoring 87.7 points per game, steals 20.7 per game, and turnover margin +17.29. The Owls scored 100 or more points in a game eight times this season.
Framingham State coach Walter Paschal was named the circuit's coach of the year, and Framingham guard Mary Kate O'Day was named the player of the year. Fitchburg State freshman Mikayla Mitchell was chosen by the coaches as the rookie of the year.
CONFERENCE PRESS RELEASE