Owls Grounded at Albright

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior forward Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) scored 24 points and added seven rebounds but a 33-point third quarter from Albright College separated the two sides with the Owls falling 89-74 in a non-conference game on Friday afternoon from Albright, Penn.

The Owls enter the Holiday break with a record of 7-4 after the defeat while the Lions improve to 6-3 overall.

Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) sunk a three to tie the game at ten apiece, but Albright would go on a 9-2 run from that point forward to open a 19-12 Lions lead with 3:30 to play in the first. Sophia DeAngelis (Braintree, Mass.) made a pair of free throws, but Albright responded with a quick layup off the inbound, then a Julia Parmelee (Piscataway, N.J.) layup pushed the Lions lead to nine points with 2:47 left in the quarter.

With Albright still leading by nine in the closing minute of the first, Gigi Serrano (Reading, Penn.) drilled a pullup jumper to extend the Lions lead into double digits to end the quarter. The Lions feasted on the offensive glass, grabbing nine offensive rebounds in the period alone which led to eight second chance points. Albright also took care of the basketball in the opening ten minutes as the Lions handled the Owls pressure while committing just four turnovers to Westfield's eight.

Westfield began the second quarter with three turnovers on their first four possessions which allowed the Lions to build on the lead with a layup plus the foul on a drive from Mackenzie Dover (West Orange, N.J.) giving Albright a 16-point cushion early in the second. Dover followed on the ensuing series with a triple as the Lions would hold their largest lead of the half at 35-16 with 7:40 to go in the period.

With the Owls as a team missing nine of their first ten threes, Pond slowed the Lions run with a wing triple, then consecutive Albright turnovers in the backcourt led to layups from Ashley Ames (Valatie, N.Y.) and Grant, trimming the Lions lead to 12 points with 5:25 left in the second.

The Owls trailed by 13 with under a minute to go before Grant reached double figure scoring with a layup, then after a Lions turnover, Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) drew a loose ball foul and converted two free throws to bring the deficit to single digits. Westfield got another defensive stop, but a steal and layup from Dover in the final seconds of the half gave the Lions an 11-point lead entering the break.

In the third quarter, both teams shot at a high efficiency from the field with the Owls hitting eight of 16 shots in the frame. However, the Lions delivered a 33-point quarter after connecting on a 56.5 percent clip from the floor (13-23 FG). Albright used a 10-2 scoring run early in the third to extend the lead to 17 points as a layup from Julia Zakovitch (Hershey, Penn.) at the six-minute mark gave Albright a 57-40 lead.

Westfield managed to cut the deficit to 13 points on multiple occasions in the third, but a three-minute scoring drought in the closing stages of the third allowed the Lions to push the lead all the way up to 24 points after a Chrisden Jones (Bowie, Md.) three-point play made it a 76-52 contest with 30 seconds left in the third, capping a 12-0 Lions run.

The Owls would get as close as 13 points in the fourth quarter after generating 11 Albright turnovers, but Westfield ran out of time to get any closer.

On the game, Westfield shot 33.3 percent from the field (21-63) and made six of 27 three-point attempts. Hadla added 18 points while Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.) posted 11 points and chipped in four steals.

Dover led the Lions with 22 points and six assists. Shakyla Mayo (Reading, Penn.) followed with 14 points and six rebounds. Albright connected on 40.7 percent of their shots in the game.

The Lions finished with 24 offensive rebounds which led to 20 second chance points. The turnover margin was nearly even in the game with the Lions turning the ball over 27 times to the Owls 26. The 26 Westfield turnovers was a season high.

Westfield State will return to action on Thursday, January 2 at 6:00 P.M. as the Owls travel to Western New England, which finished the first half of the season with a 9-0 record.