Williams' Double-Double Powers Owls Past Worcester State

WESTFIELD, Mass. –   Westfield State senior guard Tavi Williams (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug) scored 15 points and snared 15 rebounds as Westfield State rode a big second half to a 78-67 win over Worcester State in a  Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball game at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Westfield State improves to 9-4, 1-1 in the MASCAC, while Worcester State is now 4-8, 1-1 in the league.

The Owls got 13 points off the bench from sophomore transfer Gianna Strange (Westfield, Mass./Suffield Academy), who joined the Owls during the semester break , and 12 points from Sophia Rockwood (Windsor, Vt).  Williams added four assists and three steals in the big effort.

The Owls countered a 21-point, 19-rebound effort from Lancers' center Alana Smith (Chicopee, Mass).   Lena Waldron (Quincy, Mass.) added 16 points and Hanna Lomonaco (Northbridge, Mass.) 12 for Worcester.

The Owls opened the second half with a 7-0 run, with all the points coming from Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass. / Douglas), on a pair of steals and layups and a left-win 3 pointer that gave Westfield a 46-40 lead just 1:26 into the second half forcing a timeout from the Lancers.   Rockwood added a triple for the Owls to push the run to 10-0 and a 49-40 lead before Worcester's Waldon snapped the string with a bucket.

Westfield led 61-50 heading to the fourth quarter.

The Lancers pulled to within six at 65-59 on a layup from Aydan Gulliver (Cranston, RI/East) with 6:43 left, but that was as close as they could get.

Strange grabbed an offensive rebound and dribbled out for a turnaround three pointer at the 6:09 mark to give Westfield some breathing room.

Caroline Galvani's (Framingham, Mass.) three pointer after Williams grabbed an offensive rebound of her own free throw miss, and kicked it out, gave Westfield a 75-61 lead with 3:18 to play.

Westfield led 24-20 after a back-and-forth first quarter.

Worcester opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to grab a 29-26 lead on a fastbreak layup from Lena Waldron (Quincy, Mass.), Owls answered with a trailer 3 pointer from Gianna Strange.

The Lancers grabbed a 34-29 lead before a Davis putback flipped the momentum

The Lancers led 40-39 at the half behind 15 points and eight rebounds from Alana Smith.  Sophia Rockwood led the Owls with nine points off the bench with Strange adding seven.   27 of Westfield's 39 points came from the bench in the first half.

Westfield forced 41 turnovers from the Lancers that the Owls turned into 36 points.   Westfield finished 22-32 at the foul line, with Worcester netting 15 of 21.

Westfield is next scheduled to play at MCLA in a conference game Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. 

Worcester will host Emerson in a non-conference game on Monday at 12 noon.