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Women's Basketball Stops Fitchburg, 79-54

Octaviana Williams (file photo)
Octaviana Williams (file photo)

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Westfield State got 15 points each from Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) and Octaviana Williams (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug) as the Owls rolled to a 79-54 win in a MASCAC women's basketball game at Fitchburg State on Saturday afternoon to close the regular season for both team.

Westfield State improves to 16-9 overall and 9-3 in the conference.  The Owls finish in a tie for second in the league standings, but end up as the #3 seed in the conference tournament by virtue of the league's tiebreaker system.   Westfield will host a first-round conference tournament game on Tuesday night at the Woodward Center against #6 MCLA.   The game will tip off at 7:30 as part of a doubleheader, as the Owl men will also face MCLA at 5:30 p.m.

Fitchburg's season comes to a close at 3-22 overall and 1-11 in the league.

Westfield State opened with five unanswered points, however, the Falcons countered with a three-pointer from Rylie Harlow (Hanson, Mass.) and a pair of free throws to knot the game at 5-5. Harlow kept the game close (9-8) with a jumper in the paint. The Owls ran off eight straight including five points from Jordyn Lummus (Pittsfield, Mass.) to end the quarter.

In the second quarter, Westfield extended the lead  to 23-10 with a layup from Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.), and Westfield closed the half on a 7-0 run to lead 37-17 at the half.

Westfield's Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) scored the first seven points of the frame. A bucket and a pair of free-throws from Stephanie Hart made it a 44-21 ballgame. Harlow knocked down back-to-back jumpers for the Falcons before the Owls hit five points from the charity stripe. Williams  converted a three-point play to push the score to 67-30.

Almeida paced the Falcons with 12 points, while Stephanie Hart chipped in with 9 points and 14 rebounds

Grant and Williams paced the Owls with 15 points each, Williams added a game-high 7 steals. Hadla added 13 points and Lummus nine for Westfield.

Westfield State shot 27-for-85 (31.8%) from the field and (7-for-42) 16.7% from three-point range

Fitchburg State finished 18-for-48 (37.5%) overall and (8-for-18) 44.4% for beyond the arc

Westfield forced the Falcons into 51 turnovers, the third most in Owls' history.