Owls Rattle Rivier, 75-54

WESTFIELD, Mass. -   Westfield State women's basketball used a balanced scoring attack, led by 15 from Grace Wigington (Lenox, Mass./IMG Academy) to edge away from Rivier (N.H.) College for a 75-54 win in a non-conference game at the Woodward Center on Wednesday evening.

Westfield improves to 6-1 on the season, while Rivier dips to 0-8.

Wigington finished 5-12 shooting from the floor and 4-10 behind the three-point arc.   Kayley Downie (Easthampton, Mass.) added 11 on 3-5 shooting from long range, and Mya Silveira (North Smithfield, RI) scored 10.     Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass./Douglas) and Alexa Davis (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Int. Charter) each added nine.

Westfield led 17-14 at the end of the first quarter and boosted the lead to eight, 32-24 at the half. The Owls pulled away in the third quarter, getting a 4-point play from Wigington when she was fouled and made the three-pointer and the ensuing free throw to lead 53-37 with 1:36 left in the third, then Berthiaume went coast to coast for a layup that gave the Owls a 57-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Rivier was led by 10 points each from Madi Ricker (Farmington, N.H.) and Gianna Donato (Tyngsboro, Mass.).   Erika Fantauzzi (Londonderry, NH) grabbed 14 rebounds  and Sydney Perry (Windsor, Vt.) 12 for the Raiders.

Westfield forced 33 turnovers from the Raiders while committing just 16 of their own.  Rivier was just 2-21 behind the three-point arc, while Westfield finished 10-35.   The Raiders out-rebounded Westfield 58-42.

Westfield State will be home to host local rival Western New England on Saturday at Noon at the Woodward Center.