Golden Bears Maul Owls

WESTFIELD, Mass. - Senior center Hannah Blake (Foxborough, Mass.) scored 24 points and blocked four shots to lead Western New England University women's basketball to a 84-47 win over Westfield State in a non-conference game at the Woodward Center.

The Golden Bears improved to 7-3 on the season, while Westfield State is now 6-2.

Western New England led 41-20 at the half.

The Owls went nearly five minutes without a point in the first quarter, allowing the Golden Bears to go on a 9-0 run with a three from Lottia Barnes (Suffern, NY) pushing the Owls deficit into double digits at 17-5 with 2:34 remaining.

Grace Wigington (Lenox, Mass.) buried a three to halt the run, but the Owls trailed by ten heading into the second quarter where Western New England held Westfield to just nine points on 3-14 shooting from the field.

Westfield was led by 17 points from Wigington, the only Owl to reach double figures in scoring. Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass. /Douglas) added nine and Caroline Galvani (Framingham, Mass) eight.

The Owls shot just 26.2 percent from the floor and 17.4 percent from three in the game.   WNE finished 35-70 (50 percent) from the floor, and had a 50-18 advantage on points in the paint.   The Golden Bears handled the Owls' press, and outscored Westfield 30-14 in points off turnovers.  The Bears outrebounded the Owls 57-24, and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to the Owls 14 on the defensive end.

Blake finished 12-16 from the floor.  Sophie Hedge added 15 points and eight rebounds for WNE.  Barnes led with 11 rebounds and added nine points.   Paige Winter dished out 10 assists and added nine points, four rebounds and three steals.

Westfield State will next host Russell Sage (NY) College on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at the Woodward Center.