MCLA Women fall to #2 seed Bridgewater State 88-73
The MCLA Trailblazers fell on the road to second seeded Bridgewater State 88-73 ending their bid to repeat as MASCAC tournament champions. The Trailblazers will now await a potential ECAC tournament bid.
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Behind 21 points from junior forward Shelly DePina (New Bedford, Mass.) and 20 points from senior guard Brittney Chappron (Braintree, Mass.), the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team posted an 88-73 MASCAC Tournament Semifinal win over visiting MCLA on Thursday night in Bridgewater.
Bridgewater improves to 18-7 on the season with the win and will advance to the MASCAC Tournament Championship game on Saturday. The second-seeded Bears will travel to number one seed Westfield State to take on the Owls at 2 PM. Westfield knocked off Worcester State in the other semifinal matchup, 56-42. MCLA, the defending tournament champions, fall to 17-9 with the loss.
DePina finished 9-for-10 from the floor and added eight rebounds and four steals. Chappron knocked down three three-pointers and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.
Junior forward Jen Wehner (Cooperstown, N.Y.) paced the visiting Trailblazers with 28 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Wehner was an impressive 13 of 14 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Lucy Tremblay (East Greenbush, N.Y.) added 22 points, with 15 of those coming in the second half.
Bridgewater led 36-31 at the intermission with freshman guard Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, Mass.) leading the way for the Bears with nine point on 3 of 3 shooting from three-point range in the opening stanza.
Bridgewater used a 9-2 run to start the second half with Chappron knocking down a three-pointer followed by conventional three-point plays by junior forward Monica-Sabina Bharoocha (North Smithfield, R.I.) and senior guard Corey Cuddihy (Scituate, Mass.) . MCLA would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Bears knocked down 13 of 14 free throw attempts in the final six and a half minutes to secure the victory.
Cuddihy finished with 14 points, six rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Bharoocha chipped in with 13 points, five assists and three steals. Freshman forward Megan Boutilette (Charlton, Mass.) added seven points, five boards and four steals. The Bears connected on 23 of 31 (74%) foul shots in the game and forced 21 MCLA turnovers thanks in large part to 14 steals.
The Trailblazers had a slight 34-30 edge in points in the paint, and also held a 39-32 rebounding advantage. MCLA shot 50% (30-60) from the floor but were just 10 of 18 (56%) at the free throw line.