WESTFIELD, Mass. -- League leading Westfield State rallied from an 11-point first half deficit, and got two free throws from senior center Rebecca Sapouckey (Granby/Chicopee, Mass.) with 10.9 seconds left to lift the Owls to a 66-65 win over Worcester State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game at the Woodward Center on Thursday night.

Westfield State improves to 6-0 in the conference and 12-6 overall, Worcester drops to 9-9 overall and 3-3 in the MASCAC.

The Lancers led by as many as 11 points on several occasions in the first half, the last at 29-18 when Catherine Sweeney (Lowell Tech/Lowell, Mass.) scored on a layup with 7:32 to play in the second quarter. Westfield, which shot a dismal 28 percent from the floor in the opening half, rallied to cut the lancers advantage to 39-32 at the half.

Westfield came out firing in the second half, scoring on its first two possessions with layups from Chelsea Moussette (Hampshire Regional/Southampton, Mass.) and Melissa Gray (Peabody, Mass.) to quickly trim the lead down to three points.

The Owls finally battled back to tie the game at 46-all on a crossover, step-back jumper from Alyssa Darling (Palmer, Mass) with 2:42 to play in the third.

Neither team could gain an extended advantage from there. Worcester seized a bit of momentum as senior guard Brianna Hackett (Hollis Brookline/Hollis, N.H.) launched a banked-in three pointer from the right hash mark as time expired in the third for a 52-48 lancers, lead, but the Owls responded with the first five points of the fourth quarter on a jumper, and an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Owls a 53-52 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

Worcester took a 65-63 lead with 3:22 to play on a layup from 6-1 junior center Britt Herring (Quabog/W. Brookfield, Mass.).

Westfield trimmed the lead to 65-64 when Moussette hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2:55 to play. Both teams went into a scoring funk, with the Owls finally gaining the lead when Sapouckey was fouled on a post move inside with 10.9 seconds left to provide the winning margin. Worcester's Kate Suprenant (Pelham, N.H.) launched a jumper as time expired which would not connect, and the Owls escaped with the win and it's perfect record in league play intact. The owls won for the 45^th time in its last 48 games against league foes.

Westfield was led by 13 points from Moussette, who was a perfect 4-4 from the floor and 2-2 from three, and got 11 points from Lucy Barrett (Mt. Greylock/Williamstown, Mass.) and 10 from Kierra McCarthy (Ludlow, Mass.). Sapouckey added nine points and five rebounds along with four steals, doing her best work in the decisive fourth quarter.

For Worcester.. Herring led with 18 points and eight rebounds, Kaitlyn Berkel (St. Bernard's/Waterford, Conn.) added 17 points and seven rebounds, and Sweeney narrowly missed a triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.

Westfield finished 23-69 from the floor, but just 5-23 (22 %) from three-point range. Worcester, which slowed an Owls' offense which was averaging 95 points per game in league play, shot 50 percent from the floor, and scored 46 points in the paint. Westfield forced the Lancers into 25 turnovers, while the Owls committed just 10.

Westfield State will be back in action on Saturday, hosting MCLA at 1:00 p.m. at the Woodward Center. Worcester travels to Salem State on Saturday.