If you want to win a game of H-O-R-S-E shooting a basketball, to win the game you have to make your last shot twice to prove it. The Westfield State Owls will get their chance to prove it on Saturday in the MASCAC Tournament championship game as the Owls host Framingham State for the third straight year. The Owls won the first two championship matchups, defeating Framingham 92-86 in 2016 and again 83-74 in 2017.

"It's a pretty cool accomplishment for Rebecca Sapouckey and Alyssa Darling who are playing in a fourth conference championship game, three in a row for Keri Paton," said Owls head coach Andrea Bertini of her seniors.

"It's really hard to do it, you have seven teams in the conference trying to accomplish the same thing," said Bertini. "You have a lot of really good coaches throughout the league, and we are all recruiting against each other , we're all playing against each other and kind of banging our heads against each other all year long. To get to this last game is the goal every year, and a sign that you have had a good season."

While some of the players remain the same, there are plenty of new faces that promise to make this matchup as interesting as the first two.

With Westfield State still employing its successful 'system' style of play, the Owls have largely a renovated cast from the meeting three years ago, as just four of the Owls' top 11 from that game are on the current roster.

For Westfield State, junior shooting guard Lucy Barrett has blossomed into the centerpiece of the offense. She is scoring nearly 16 points per game, and shooting better than 33 percent from three point range (she played just seven minutes in the conference championship game as a freshman and scored just two points). Barrett has led the nation in free throw shooting for much of the season, connecting on 94.7 percent of her free throws. Sophomore point guard Chelsea Moussette has come on strong in the second half of the season and posted a 17-point, 8-assist performance in the Owls semifinal win over Worcester State. At just 5-feet tall Moussette can dominate a game with her pace and shooting. And another newcomer, freshman Melissa Gray, has influenced the Owls season with her outside shooting, averaging 10.4 points per game and making 44 three-pointers this season.

The Owls lead the country in scoring (87.7 ppg), steals (496 and 20.7 per game), and turnover margin (+17.29 per game).

Framingham returns just three of its top seven from the championship meeting two years ago, but the Rams are led by sophomore Mary Kate O'Day who has stepped into a leading role after coming off the bench last season. She leads the league in scoring with 18.4 points per game.

Owl fans will remember senior guard Reagan Mulherin, who brings both energy and scoring to the Rams lineup with 16 points per game and 49 three-pointers.

Junior forward Tiffany Harris presents a different challenge in the low post after the graduation of Rams 6-footer Alyssa Radcliffe who was the foil of the Owls for four years. Harris leads the league in rebounding at more than 10 per game, and she has averaged 21 points per game in the two meetings with Westfield this season.

Westfield won both regular season meetings between the two teams this season, 95-88 in Westfield, and 93-80 at Framingham.

"Obviously Framingham is a really good team, they probably have three all-conference players and seniors on that team," said Bertini. "You have two very good teams that are very familiar with each other, that are very competitive. We've been 1-2 in the league for the last three or four years; it's going to be a fun match up. They'll be ready, our kids will be ready, and we'll see what happens for 40 minutes."

Both teams are pursuing the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament that comes with the conference crown. Westfield is seeking its fifth MASCAC tournament title overall and sixth NCAA Tournament bid. A win for Framingham would be its first conference tournament title and yield a first-ever NCAA bid.