Galvani, Berthiaume Hit Career Highs as Owls Snap Gators Late

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Westfield State University's Caroline Galvani (Framingham, Mass.) scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Owls, as Westfield State held off Sage (N.Y.) College, 74-70 in a non-conference game at the Woodward Center on Thursday evening.

Westfield State improves to 7-2 on the season, while Sage is now 5-3

Westfield led 35-28 at the half, and maintained a narrow lead, never larger than a dozen points, until late.   Westfield led 69-60 after an Anaya Tolton (Vernon, Conn./Rockville) layup with 5:15 left in the game.   The Gators countered with a 10-0 run over the next 4:25 to take their only lead of the game, 70-69 on a layup from Kyla Smith (Sprakers, N.Y.) with 40 seconds left to play.

Westfield's Sophia DeAngelis (Braintree, Mass.) was fouled while driving to the hoop on the next possession and sank a pair of free throws to give Westfield a 71-70 advantage.

The Owls ratcheted up the defensive pressure, getting three steals from Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass./Douglas) in the final minute to keep Sage from getting a quality shot to answer.  Berthiaume made 3-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to do just enough to hold off the Gators.

Berthiaume matched her career high with 14 points, six rebounds and five steals, and DeAngelis added 11 points and three steals.  Ashley Ames (Valatie, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) handed out four assists and had four steals to go with four points in a spot start.

Westfield played shorthanded without leading scorer Grace Wigington and leading rebounder Tavi Williams, both sidelined with minor injuries.

Galvani came out of a season-long shooting slump, connecting on 7 of 14 from the floor and 4-8 from long range in the game.  She had entered the game shooting just 26 percent overall and 17 percent from three-point land so far this season.

Sage was led by 23 points fron Layla Acosta (Haines City, Fla.). Aniyah Kelley (Newcastle, Del.) came off the bench to score 12 points and grab eight rebounds.   Smith finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Kallie Hopkins (Millsboro, Del.) grabbed 10 rebounds for the Gators.

Westfield forced 37 turnovers from Sage, and the Owls had a 28-6 advantage in points off turnovers, helping to contradict Sage's 55-28 margin in rebounds.

Westfield will finish out the fall-semester portion of the slate with a game at Nichols College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.