WESTFIELD, Mass. – Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) scored 20 points for Westfield State and recorded her 1,000th point of her collegiate career in an 82-64 win over the visiting Salem State Vikings in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game on Wednesday evening from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.
Hadla became the 19th women's basketball player to hit 1,000 points in their career at Westfield State. Entering into the game, Hadla needed just three points to hit the 1,000-point scoring mark. In the first three minutes of the game, Hadla was fouled while driving the lane. She made one of her two free throws, needing just two more points to hit 1,000.
Trailing the Vikings 12-8 with six minutes to play in the first, Jordyn Lummus (Pittsfield, Mass.) rifled a pass to Hadla who topped the 1,000-point mark with a triple from the wing, cutting the deficit to one point.
After Hadla's three, the Owls would go scoreless for the next four minutes while the Vikings pulled ahead to a five-point lead. The Owls closed the quarter on an 8-4 run with Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) tying the game with a pair of free throws to knot the game up at 20 points entering into the second quarter.
A three from Hadla in the first three minutes of second quarter gave the Owls the lead that they would maintain for the rest of the game.
With 4:32 left in the half, Grant converted a three-point play to vault the Owls lead into double figures, then later in the frame Grant scored again in the paint to give Westfield a 36-24 lead with 3:23 remaining in the quarter. Grant finished the game as the Owls leading scorer with 21 points and also pulled down nine rebounds.
The Vikings were not ready to go away so easily. Led by five second-quarter points from Jaylen Nieves (Chicopee, MA) the Vikings got within five points of the Owls with just over a minute to go until halftime, but a steal and layup from Hadla positioned Westfield with a 38-31 halftime lead.
The Owls continued to push the pace after the break as six third quarter points from both Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.) and Grant gave the Owls a 15-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Pond ended the night with 12 points, eight rebounds, and four steals.
Salem made one final push to get back into the game in the fourth with Abuk Teng (Manchester, N.H.) fueling the charge with seven points in the fourth quarter as the Vikings went on a 12-6 run in the first five minutes of the quarter, cutting the Owls lead to 66-57 with 5:26 left in regulation. Teng led the Vikings in scoring with 20 points.
The run was quickly halted after another three from Hadla, who buried five of 11 triples (45%), to drive the Owls lead back to double digits. From there, the Owls went on to outscore the Vikings 15-7 to seal the victory.
For the Vikings, Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) led with 18 rebounds and scored 15 points. Kylie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) dished out a game-high 12 assists and had a team high four steals.
For the Owls, Octaviana Williams (Springfield, Mass.) grabbed 11 rebounds. Lummus led the team with five assists and four steals.
Westfield State will host Framingham State in their next game on Saturday at noon from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass. Salem State travels to Bridgewater State on is on Saturday for a 1:00 P.M. tip-off.
Written by Jordan Aguiar – WSU Sports Information Intern