Owls Top Rams in Conference Opener, 79-72

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior forward Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) recorded 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Owls to a 79-72 victory over Framingham State in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opener from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

Westfield improves to 8-5 on the season and 1-0 in the MASCAC while the Rams fall to 7-6 and 0-1 in the league.

The Owls began the game by holding Framingham without a basket for the first 3:54 of game action before Gabriella Redford (Amesbury, Mass.) converted a layup to put the Rams on the board.

Westfield maintained a slim first quarter lead in part to the hot shooting start for Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) who netted eight points in the period while going 4-5 from the field to keep the Owls ahead by six points. Katherine Haselton (Greenfield, Mass.) buried a jumper from the top of the key as time expired in the first to make it a 19-15 contest after ten minutes of play.

Jess Gardner (Webster, Mass.) and Grant jumpstarted the Owls scoring in the second quarter with three-point makes on consecutive possessions to push the advantage to ten points, 25-15, with 8:23 left in the half. The scoring run reached nine after a layup from Caellen Foley (Jeffersonville, Vt.) and a free throw from Grant as Westfield held Framingham without a bucket on eight straight possessions to begin the quarter until Michelle Moreno (Providence, R.I.) snapped the scoring drought with a layup with 4:39 left in the half.

The Rams cut the Owls lead to 11 points in the closing minute of the half, then Hadla connected on a runner in the lane after a Framingham turnover to give Westfield a 13-point halftime lead. Hadla led all scorers in the half with 12 points. The Owls shot 5-10 from beyond the arc compared to just 1-15 from three-point range for the Rams.

The Owls were forced to weather a second-half scoring effort from Haselton as the senior point guard piled up 23 points in the second half, including a triple with 3:23 left in the third to trim the Owls lead to single digits at 50-41. Ashley Ames (Valatie, N.Y.) responded on the other end, drilling a high-arcing three while being fouled to drive the lead back to 12 points. Westfield maintained a double-digit lead entering the fourth quarter, leading by 11 at 60-49.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Owls defense forced back-to-back turnovers which led to layups from Grant and Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.), tying their largest lead of the contest at 15 with 9:20 to play. Framingham refused to go down quietly, pushing back into the game on an 7-0 run with Haselton nailing a triple and mid-range jumper while assisting on the third basket to Faith Greene (Worcester, Mass.), making it an eight-point game with 7:25 left. Grant halted the Framingham run with a layup, but Chloe Rayko (Coventry, R.I.) responded with a triple, cutting the deficit to 66-59 with 7:10 to play.

Later in the quarter, Gardner collected a pass from Berthiaume in transition where she would finish at the rim to put Westfield up 72-61 with 4:12 remaining in the game. Again, the Rams charged back as Jacqueline Schels (Hamburg, N.J.) made a layup then Haselton knocked down a triple with 2:17 left, making it a 72-67 contest.

Out of an Owls timeout, Grant used a flurry of post moves to score in the paint, then after a Rams missed three, Hadla dished a pass inside to Grant for another layup, extending the lead to nine points with 1:16 left to put the game out of reach.

Hadla finished with 19 points and five assists. Six Owls finished with seven or more points on the night.

Haselton posted 33 points and ten rebounds, both high marks in the game for either side, and registered five assists. Schels was the other double figure scorer for the Rams, adding ten points.

Westfield were outrebounded 54-38 in the game but were able to mitigate the damage on the glass due to their points off turnovers, holding a 20-point margin in that category after totaling 33 points off turnovers.

Westfield State will next play at home on Wednesday, January 15 against Worcester State in a MASCAC game from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass. at 7:30 P.M. Framingham State will play Bridgewater State at home for their next game on Saturday at 2:00 P.M.