Women's Hoops Prunes Elms, 70-60

WESTFIELD, Mass. -  Westfield State University women's basketball overcame a slow start to top local rival Elms College, 70-60 in a non-conference game at Picknelly Arena in Chicopee on Tuesday evening.

Westfield State is now 5-1 on the season while Elms drops to 2-5.

Westfield was led by 14 points from first-year point guard Sophia Rockwood (Windsor, Vt.), and got 12 from junior guard Sophia DeAngelis (Braintree, Mass.).

Elms jumped out to leads of 8-0 and 13-2 right out of the gate, before the Owls Kayley Downie (Easthampton, Mass.) netted a three pointer to give Westfield some momentum.   The Owls trailed 18-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Trailing 30-27 after a layup from the Blazers Talia Uribe with 1:58 left in the half, the Owls went on an 8-0 run in the next minute of play, sparked by a three- pointer from Grace Wigington (Lenox, Mass./ING Academy).

Westfield led 35-32 at the half, connecting on 6 of 14 three-point tries in the opening 20 minutes.

The Owls got their pressure defense ratcheted up in the second half, forcing 18 turnovers from the Blazers in the final 20 minutes, and Westfield was able to gradually extend the lead.   Westfield led by as many as 12, 64-52 after a pair of free throws from DeAngelis with 3:09 left to play.

The Blazers trimmed the lead to 64-56 with a layup from Mary Turco, but Westfield responded with a contested corner three pointer from Caroline Galvani (Framingham, Mass.) with 2:11 left in regulation to boost the lead back to double figures.

Elms committed 30 turnovers to the Owls 12.  Westfield finished 8-26 (30.8 pct) from three-point range, while the Blazers were just 1 of 14 (7 pct.) from behind the arc.  Westfield got 29 points off the bench while the Elms netted just five.

Morgan Berthiaume(Webster, Mass./Douglas) added 10 points, five steals and three assists for Westfied, while Tavi Williams led the Owls with seven rebounds and grabbed five steals as well.

Elms was led by 24 points and 22 rebounds from Turco, and got 19 points from Uribe.

The Owls will take a break from competition over the Thanksgiving holiday, and next play on Wednesday, Dec. 3, when they host Rivier College at 5:30 p.m. as part of a double header, where the men's team will meet Salve Regina at 7:30 p.m.