Owls Charge into MASCAC Semifinals to Face Framingham

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The third-seeded Westfield State women's basketball team will travel to second-seeded Framingham State with a trip to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship game on the line as the two teams square off in a MASCAC Semifinal game on Friday at 7:00 P.M. from Logan Gymnasium.

PLEASE NOTE:  The MASCAC Basketball Tournament schedule has changed due to inclement weather today on Thursday, Feb.23. The conference semifinal games originally scheduled for Thursday will now be played on Friday, Feb. 24, with the championship on Sunday, Feb. 26.

The Owls (17-9, 9-3 MASCAC) enter the conference semifinals after defeating sixth-seeded MCLA at the Woodward Center on Tuesday night 84-46. Westfield was led by junior forward Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) who collected a game-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds. Junior Lindsey Bohenko (Lowell, Mass.) was the only other double-digit scorer for the Owls (12 points) as eight different Owls scored six or more points.

Westfield has now won eight straight games dating back to the middle of January.

Framingham earned a first-round bye and the second overall seed in the conference tournament, finishing the regular season at 17-5 overall and 9-3 in the MASCAC. The Rams won the tiebreaker with the Owls due to record against common non-conference opponents. Framingham has won their last four games, including six of their last seven.

The Owls and Rams split the regular season series with one another with the road team coming out on top in both occasions. Westfield won the later of the two meetings, with Olivia Hadla piling up 25 points (9-18 FG) with seven triples to pull out an 82-79 win. Both teams were playing shorthanded in the contest with the Owls losing Grant in the second quarter due to injury while the Rams were missing the MASCAC's leading scorer in Flannery O'Connor (Amesbury, Mass.). Kelsey Yelle (South Easton, Mass.) was the Rams top scorer in the game with 23 points (11-11 FG) and 11 rebounds.

In the earlier meeting between both teams, the Rams used a strong second half to defeat the Owls 89-71. O'Connor piled up a season-high 33 points and 18 rebounds. Westfield struggled to find their mark from deep in the contest, shooting just 18.8% (9-48) from beyond the arc. Hadla and Grant were the Owls top scorers at 15 and 14 points.

Looking at the Rams on the year, the frontcourt duo of O'Connor and Katty Haidul (Gilford, N.H.) are the team's top scoring threats. O'Connor leads the conference in scoring at 17.7 points and is second in the league in rebounds (10.2) behind Haidul who's pulled down 11.3 boards while also averaging the third-most points in the MASCAC at 16.9. Gwendolyn Carpenter (Ashley Falls, Mass.) leads the MASCAC in assists at 6.6.

Players to watch for both teams aside from the team's leading scorers are Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.) and Yelle. Pond collected 13 points in the second meeting between the two teams, stepping up as one of the primary scoring options while Grant was injured. Yelle has carved a sizeable role for the Rams down the stretch, averaging 18.2 points per game across 28.5 minutes through the final six games of the season.

Livetsream coverage and live stats of the game will be available with links at WestfieldStateOwls.com, or you can watch on Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Prime on the MASCAC.tv streaming channel.

The winner of this game earns a spot in the MASCAC Championship game and will meet the winner #5 Worcester State and #1 Bridgewater State on Sunday with a location and time still to be determined.