WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Westfield State senior Melissa Gray (Peabody, Mass.)  turned in a monster performance with 27 points, 12 rebounds, eight steals and seven assists to lead the Owls to an 87-72 win over Western New England in a non-conference women's basketball game at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Gray now has 1,512 career points, moving into third place on the Owls all-time scoring list. She's just 14 behind all-time leader Amanda Braden-Theriault '98 and 12 back of Jen Ashton '15.

Westfield improves to 3-7 on the season, and will now be off until January 2 for finals and the semester break, before returning to play Hunter College on January 2.

Western New England slips to 3-7.

The first half was a back and forth battle, with the Owls holding a 44-42 lead at the intermission. 

WNE edged out to a three-point lead by scoring the first five points of the second half, leading 47-44 after an Emma Kahn three pointer with 8:54 to play.

Westfield regained the lead for good at 50-49 on a Gray three-pointer with 6:59 left in the third quarter,

The Owls extended the lead to as many as nine on Jess Gardner (Webster, Mass./Holy Name) layup midway through the third, and Westfield led 65-60 entering the fourth quarter.

The Owls threatened to pull away early in the fourth, pulling out to a 10-point lead, but back-to-back WNE buckets trimmed it back to six with 7:57 left.

The Bears kept within striking distance until a dagger 3 from Jenn Rennich (Bedford, Mass.) gave Westfield a 77-67 lead with 3:29 left to play, then Gardner drained a three pointer with 1:13 left that boosted the Owls lead to 83-72.

Westfield forced 40 turnovers out of the Golden Bears and cashed in with 48 points off turnovers.   Westfield took 80 shots to WNE's 57, but the Owls shot just 14 of 28 at the foul line.

Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) was the only other Owl in double figure scoring with 14 points, but  Westfield got points from 11 different players. Paris Wilkey (Lynn, Mass./Classical) netted eight, and Jess Gardner had 7 points and five rebounds for the Owls. Jordyn Lummus (Pittsfield, Mass.) came up with five steals and six points.

The Golden Bears got 19 points and 13 rebounds from Grace Fisher.   Alexia Leon added 14 and Julia Quinn 12.