Owls Win Opener in Westfield Gas and Electric Tip Off Tournament

WESTFIELD MA –  Westfield State's Jordan Grant scored 29 points to lead the Owls to a 83-57 win over Regis (Mass.) College in the women basketball's home opener at the Westfield Gas + Electric Tip Off Tournament at the Woodward Center.

The Owls improve to 2-1 on the season as the Pride fall to 0-4 on the season.

Grant (Gray, ME) led the Owls with 29 points, shooting 68% (11-16) from the field, while collecting six rebounds for the Owls.

The Owls only trailed the Pride for three minutes in the whole contest. The Pride scored first on a triple from Jordyn Striggles (Raynham, MA) and then it was all Owls as a jump shot from Jordan Grant (Gray, ME) sent the Owls on a 10-0 run.

The Owls outscored the Pride 28-9 in the first quarter, but the Pride were not willing to go away. Led by 10 points in the second quarter from Madi Zancan (Cumberland, RI), the Pride outscored the Owls 20-13 in the second quarter cutting the Owls lead to 12, 41-29 as they headed to half.

The Owls came out of halftime swinging, as they went on a 15-2 run to start the second half, led by a three from Oliva Hadla (Westfield, MA). The Owls entered the 4th quarter up 67-43, having doubled their halftime lead.

Hadla (Westfield, MA) recorded a team high seven steals in a game full of turnovers and takeaways as the Owls tallied 27 steals and forced 42 turnovers against Regis.

For Regis, Haley Lightbody (Reading, MA) led with seven steals while collecting 11 rebounds and putting up 16 points. Zancan (Cumberland, RI) led with 14 rebounds. Courtney Doherty (Willimantic, CT) recorded 11 points and four steals.

Maddie Pond (Holyoke, MA) recorded 10 points for the Owls. Octaviana Williams (Springfield, MA) led the Owls in rebounds with nine.

The Owls will play in the Westfield Gas + Electric Tip Off Tournament championship match tomorrow November 18 at 2 p.m. against Muhlenberg. The Pride will play in the consolation match of the Westfield Gas + Electric Tip Off Tournament tomorrow November 18 at 12 p.m. against the loser of Eastern Connecticut.

GAME 2: Muhlenberg 57, Eastern Connecticut 48

Muhlenberg junior Emily Unger (Warwick, N.Y.) led all scorers with 17 points as the Mules defeated Eastern Connecticut State University 57-48 in day one of the Westfield Gas and Electric Tip-Off Tournament from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

Muhlenberg (4-0) advances to the tournament championship game where they will face Westfield State tomorrow at 2:00 P.M. Eastern Connecticut (1-1) will face Regis College in the consolation contest at noon.

Rachel Saxton (Doylestown, Pa.) was the second Mules player in double figures, posting ten points to go along with four steals. Jenna Stockfeder (Melville, N.H.) and Caroline Horst (Lancaster, Pa.) each chipped in seven points for the Mules.

Eastern Connecticut was led by Taylor Salato (East Haven, Conn.) who posted a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double for the Warriors. Kya Mayo (Middletown, Conn.) followed with 12 points on an efficient 5-9 shooting from the field. Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, N.H.) was the third Warriors player in double figures with 11 points as the trio combined for 38 of the team's 49 points scored in the game.

-- written by Jordan Aguiar, Sports Information Intern