Owls Hold Off Vikings Charge and Prevail, 80-75

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Sophia Rockwood (Windsor, Vt.) and Alexa Davis (Springfield, Mass.) combined for 31 points and Tavi Williams (Springfield, Mass.) came up with a clutch steal late in the game to propel Westfield State to an 80-75 road victory at Salem State in a MASCAC contest on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls pick up an important conference win, improving to 4-2 in the MASCAC and 12-5 overall while also knocking down the Vikings into a three-way tie for second place at 4-2 in the league and 8-9 on the season.

Rockwood led Westfield with 16 points, making eight of ten free throws. Davis was a steady presence down low with 15 points on an efficient 7-11 shooting. Kayley Downie (Easthampton, Mass.) and Caroline Galvani (Framingham, Mass.) both made several timely threes throughout the course of the game with Downie posting 12 points followed by 11 from Galvani.

Westfield led by as many as 14 points in the second half after a triple from Williams gave the Owls a 49-35 lead with 5:23 left in the third quarter. The Owls made a concerted effort to feed Davis in the post during the period as she notched nine points in the frame, clearing out the paint and allowing her to operate one-on-one.

She converted a layup with 57 seconds left in the quarter to push the lead back to 11, then after a Maria Orfanos three-pointer, Rockwood made two free throws just before the period expired, giving Westfield an 11-point cushion with ten minutes to go.

In the final frame, the Owls were forced to weather several Vikings pushes in an effort to steal the game late. A 9-2 scoring run for Salem tightened the game with Westfield falling into a near four-minute scoring drought before Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) scored a jumper from the mid-range to extend the lead to six points.

Both teams traded buckets on the next four possessions with Galvani delivering two huge three-point makes on consecutive series, the second a step-back three from the corner to boost the lead to eight points with 4:49 left, forcing a Vikings timeout.

Westfield briefly pushed the lead back into double figures after a euro-step lay-in by Jailyn Garvin-Martin (Springfield, Mass.), but Salem mounted another threatening run after the make. Three different Vikings scored on the team's following trips down the floor with Ernidia Goncalves providing several second chance scoring opportunities on the offensive glass.

Shakera Fullenwilder's jumper with 1:40 to go made it a one-possession game at 73-70 with 1:41 left, punctuating a 7-0 Vikings burst. Davis halted the run with a layup on a nice feed from Berthiaume to put the Owls up five.

The Vikings would cut the Owls lead to two points inside the final minute as Yamilette Guerrero grabbed a defensive rebound, then went the full length of the floor to make the layup for a 75-73 Westfield lead with 36 second left.

Rockwood would split a pair of free throws, giving the Vikings a chance to tie but the Owls defense stood tall as Williams and Berthiaume swarmed the ball handler to force a turnover, leading to two made free throws by Williams to ice the game.

Westfield got out to an eight-point lead at halftime thanks in part to Downie who buried four triples in the half and scored the first six points of the game for the Owls on shots from downtown. On the afternoon, the Owls were effective from beyond the arc, converting on 40 percent of their makes (8-20 3pt.FG). The Owls also held their own on the glass as Salem only held a plus-six edge at 51-45.

Orfanos had a game-high 20 points while Goncalves registered a double-double despite playing through foul trouble, adding 12 points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) for Salem. Fullenwilder provided a spark off the bench with 16 points on 7-12 shooting as well.

Westfield State continues on their three-game conference road trip on Wednesday as the Owls complete the first rotation of the MASCAC schedule at Fitchburg State for a 5:00 P.M. tip-off.