Owls Take Down 25th-Ranked Middlebury; Barrett Scores 31

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –    Westfield State senior guard Lucy Barrett (Mount Greylock/Williamstown, Mass.) exploded for 31 points as Westfield State University sent previously-unbeaten and 25^th-ranked Middlebury College packing, 84-79 in a women's basketball game at the Woodward Center on Tuesday evening.

Westfield State levels its record at 7-7, while Middlebury falls to 12-1.

After a see-saw first half, Middlebury built a 12-point lead, 59-47 on a Maya Davis (Milton Academy/Milton, Mass.) putback with 2:56 to play, and the Panthers held a nine-point lead, 61-52 after three quarters.

From there, Westfield rallied, tying the game at 67-all on a Kierra McCarthy (Ludlow, Mass.) free throw with 7:21 to play.

The Owls held a 77-75 lead after a Davis layup with 2:31 to play, but Barrett took control with a driving layup for an 81-77 lead, then sank a pair of free throws with 58 seconds left to give Westfield an 83-79 lead.

Allison Hester's (Sutton, Mass.) free throw with 2.2 seconds left proved the icing on the cake for Westfield.

Barrett finished with 31 points on 9-18 shooting from the floor, 3-5 from long range, and a perfect 10-10 at the line.  She added eight rebounds and four steals in the standout performance.

Owls sophomore forward Melissa Gray (Peabody, Mass.) added 20 points.   Junior Ashley Lane (Liberty/Warrenton, Va.) had nine points off the bench, and McCarthy and Hester each added eight.   Chelsea Moussette (Hampshire/Southampton, Mass.) dished out eight assists.

Middlebury was led by 24 from Colleen Caveney (Andover/Lowell, Mass.), while Davis added 20 and 12 rebounds and Betsey Knox (Walt Whitman/Bethesda, Md.) 14.  Alex Huffman (KIPP/Lynn, Mass.) handed out eight assists. The Panthers made the most of their size advantage, scoring 54 points in the paint, and the Panthers also continued their dominance on the boards (second nationally) with a 46-36 advantage, and blocked eight Westfield shots.

The game proved a great matchup of styles as a the Panthers scoring defense entered ranked second nationally, allowing just 44.8 points per game, but gave up 84 to Westfield, which leads the nation in scoring at more than 90 points per game.

Westfield led 7-0 right out of the gate, on a three pointer from Barrett, and layups from Lane and Hester.

The Owls led 18-16 at the end of the first quarter, but Middlebury led 38-35 at the half.   Westfield made 10-26 three pointers, while Middlebury was 0-6 behind the arc.  Westfield also drained 18 of 21 free throws in the game.

Westfield completes its non-conference portion of the schedule, having played their second top-25 opponent in the last 11 days.  The Owls will travel to Bridgewater State for a MASCAC game on Saturday.

Middlebury returns to NESCAC play with games against Bates and Tufts on deck this weekend.

# WSU #