Posted: Feb 21, 2018
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Top-seeded Westfield State University women's basketball tips off its defense of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference title by hosting a semifinal round game against #4 Worcester State University on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the Woodward Center.
Westfield (17-7 overall, 11-1 MASCAC) won the conference title with a two-game cushion over runner up Framingham. The Owls have won or shared the MASCAC's regular season title in each of the last five seasons, and the Owls are hunting for a third-straight MASCAC Tournament title.
Worcester State (13-13, 6-6) has had its ups and downs this season. The Lancers squandered a 17-point lead in regulation in their quarterfinal-round win over Salem State, but the Lancers regrouped in overtime to escape with a 74-69 win.
The two teams met twice this season, with the Owls sweeping the season series. Westfield posted a hard-fought, 66-65 win over the Lancers in Westfield on January 28, with Owls' senior center Rebecca Sapouckey draining a pair of free throws with 10.9 seconds left in regulation to lift Westfield to the win after trailing by as many as 11 in the first half.
And the two teams met just five days ago in the final regular-season contest for both, but the Owls did not leave the result in doubt for long, sprinting to a 32-11 first quarter lead on the way to an 88-70 win.
Westfield brings the highest-scoring offense in the country into the game. The Owls lead NCAA Division III (out of 435 schools nation-wide) with 87.7 points per game, and the Owls pressure defense leads the nation in steals and steals per game, ranks first in turnover margin ( 17.29). Westfield is also second in the country in three point field goals made (255) and attempted. The Owls also have elite numbers in offensive rebounding (20 per game), where they rank ninth in the nation, and assists per game (18.2), which ranks 12th.
The Owls are led by junior scoring guard Lucy Barrett, who leads the team at 15.8 points per game, and has splashed 60 three-point tries this year. The Owls get scoring support from a variety of players, including junior guard Kierra McCarthy (12.7), freshman 3-point specialist Melissa Gray (10.1), and seniors Sapouckey (8.3 points, 6.3 rebounds) and Alyssa Darling (7.3).
The Owls are also keyed in their "system" attack by point guard Chelsea Moussette, listed at 5-feet tall, who scores nearly eight points per game, has connected on 34 percent of her three point tries, and ranks in the top-20 in the country in assist to turnover ratio.
Worcester is led by 6-1 junior center Britt Herring who scores 13 points, grabs eight rebounds and blocks three shots per game. 5-11 Forward Kaitlyn Berkel adds 11 points and eight rebounds while giving the Lancers 'twin towers' inside.
The Lancers have been hampered late in the year by the loss of 5-10 sophomore guard Catherine Sweeney to an injury. She was averaging seven points, nine rebounds and five assists per game before being lost for the season, and she helped the Lancers break the Owls press in the first meeting between the two clubs in Westfield.
The winner of the Owls-Lancers game advances to the MASCAC Championship game on Saturday, with the conference tournament winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Westfield is seeking its fifth-ever MASCAC tournament title. Worcester State has never won the league tournament since its inception in the 1989-90 season.