Utica, N.Y., is an unremarkable town.  Perhaps best known for its chicken riggies, being the birthplace of the beer ball, or even being a branch office of "The Office," it will now hold a special place in the heart and mind of Westfield State's Melissa Gray, (Peabody, Mass.) who set the Owls all-time scoring record there against SUNY Polytechnic Institute today.

"I'd heard of Utica, but I don't think I'd ever been there before," said Gray, calling from the bus on the way home from the game.

Gray, who entered the day with 1,512 points and third in all-time scoring at Westfield State, passed Jen Ashton '15 (1,524 pts.) for second and then Amanda Braden '98 (1,526) for the top spot, Gray scored 24 points to lead the Owls to a 107–95 win over the Wildcats.

Gray knocked down four three-pointers in the first quarter alone, tying Ashton in second place with a left side three-pointer with 32 seconds left in the first quarter, as Alie Mendel (Adams, Mass./Hoosac) dropped a pass to Gray in transition.

"I definitely had some nerves early, but I tried to think of it like if it comes, great, but if not, it will eventually," said Gray.  I didn't want to force it, but I was glad to make shots early and get it over with."

Gray ended the drama on the first possession of the second quarter, drilling a long three-pointer from the top of the key off of a set play for her 15, 16th and 17th points of the afternoon to pass both Ashton and Braden.

"Coach called the play between the periods," said Gray. "And she told me 'you better make that shot!  So I was praying that it would go in.  But that's a play we have practiced a lot and it worked out perfectly."

Gray now has 1,536 points in her four-year career at Westfield.  Gray is a fifth-year senior and a communication major at Westfield, returning to school for the opportunity to use her final year of eligibility after the pandemic scuttled the Owls 2020-21 season. 

"I'm so grateful to be able to come back and play another year, and that it worked out because not everyone gets that same chance.   I love playing for Westfield and coach [Andrea] Bertini, and with my teammates, and they are all very helpful and encouraging me to shoot it when I am open."

The Owls ran out to a 10-0 lead in the first 2:25 of the contest forcing a pair of early timeouts from the Wildcats, who had just 24 hours to prepare for the Owls pressure defense and system offense.  The game was made when both teams lost weekend opponents to COVID-19 pandemic regulations, and was played without SUNY head coach Jessica Skelton on the bench due to protocols.  The game was played without spectators due to recent upticks in COVID-19 positives across the region.

"I told our team before the game that everyone in our athletic department had worked incredibly hard to get us games this weekend," said Bertini. "This last week has been so up and down with several games canceled at the last minute, and we desperately needed to play a game, and the team came out fast and played like their hair was on fire.  Every time [SUNY] made a run, we hit a huge 3.  It was awesome."

"There were a lot of ups and downs this week," said Gray. "A lot of emotions and stuff.  I'm so thankful for coach Bertini for how much work she puts in and how much she cares about us."

Westfield led 52-41 at the half, with the team shooting a blistering nine of 18 from three-point land, and forcing 18 turnovers from SUNY Poly.

"They [SUNY] played a lot of 2-3 zone to start out and that's something we usually play well against," said Gray, "and as a team we shot it really well."

Gray had 22 points in the first half (on eight of 13 shooting and 6-8 from three-point range), while Mendel added 10.

Molly Burdick, a six-foot tall swing player led the Wildcats with 16 in the first half and finished with game highs of 30 points and 12 rebounds.  

"She may have been the best player we will see all year," said Bertini.  "They had a lot of size and we couldn't move 34 (6-2 Kierra Connor) at all inside."

Connor finished with 16 points and Sophie Wittenbeck 17.

SUNY trimmed the Owls lead down to just 10, 55-45 early in the third quarter, but Westfield responded with back-to-back three pointers from Lila LaBrie (Southampton, Mass./Hampshire Reg.) and Mendel to push the lead to 16 points, 61-45, and the Owls kept a comfortable margin for the balance of the game.  

Westfield crossed the 100-point barrier on a free-throw from newcomer Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) with 4:32 left in the game. 

Westfield shot 54 percent from the floor in the game and 51 percent (18-35) from three-point range.  The Owls forced 29 turnovers from the Wildcats, which Westfield converted into 33 points.

Mendel finished with 15 points for the Owls and Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) netted 13.

Westfield State improves to 4-7 with the win, while SUNY-Poly is now 9-4.  

"That's two ridiculously good players that Mel passed today," said Bertini.  "Jen Ashton played several years professionally overseas and Amanda is already in our hall of fame.  To not just be in the conversation with them, but be on top of them on the scoring list is incredibly impressive.  I had the chance to play with, or coach, so many of the top players in the history of our program, and to do what Mel has done takes a lot of talent, and also a lot of luck, health, and good fortune, and it couldn't happen to a better person."

"We had a lot planned for the Hunter game (which was scheduled for January 2, but canceled due to the pandemic regulations)," said Bertini.  "A lot of people were planning to come, Amanda was going to bring her high school team to the game to see Mel break her record, and then we didn't play for another week, and had games scheduled and canceled, and then we go to New York and play without any spectators allowed, there were a lot of hurdles for Mel to get the record today and it's a special occasion.  Who knows what could happen next?"

For Gray, it might be taking over Westfield State's three-point record.  She's just six back of her head coach's career record of 287 three-pointers.

For the Owls as a whole, Westfield State will be back in action tomorrow with a 12 pm MASCAC conference game at MCLA.  Please note MCLA is not permitting spectators at this time.   Video coverage of the game is available at WestfieldStateOwls.com and streaming on Roku and AppleTV on the MASCAC.tv channel.