Owls Fly Past Falcons, 102-51

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) led all scorers with 20 points and Jordan Grant (Gray, Maine) grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with 18 points as the Owls defeated Fitchburg State 102-51 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls improve to 3-1 in the conference and are now 10-7 overall. The Falcons fall to 1-2 in league play and 4-11 on the year.

Westfield opened the game by scoring the first ten points of the contest with Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.) and Hannah Sheldon (Taunton, Mass.) connecting from beyond the arc, then a pair of layups from Lindsey Bohenko (Lowell, Mass.) opened up a 10-0 Owls lead with 7:10 to play in the first quarter.

A three-point play from Stephanie Hart (Shirley, Mass.) brought the Falcons within seven points with 4:33 to go in the quarter. From there, the Owls extended the lead into double digits, using a 14-1 run in the next three minutes after Octaviana Williams' (Springfield, Mass.) layup put Westfield up 26-6. The Owls closed the frame leading by 17 points after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the Owls offense exploded for 36 points on an efficient 15-26 shooting (57.7%) from the floor with Grant and Hadla both scoring nine points apiece in the quarter. Another sizeable 20-2 run for the Owls put the game out of reach as Westfield led 64-21 entering halftime. The 64 points scored in the half was the third highest point total in a single half of play in program history.

Hadla registered her third straight game of 20-plus points, while also pulling down six rebounds. Grant's ten-rebound effort was a season-high, logging her first double-double of the campaign. Sheldon added 17 points and buried three triples and Williams led all players with five steals.

Stephanie Hart piled up ten rebounds and scored eight points. Kathryn Hart (Shirley, Mass.) also contributed eight points. Rylie Harlow (Hanson, Mass.) chipped in six points and seven rebounds while Alexis DeSimone (Ashburnham, Mass.) also recorded six points off the bench.

Westfield forced 40 turnovers which led to 45 points off of turnovers in the game. The Owls also racked up 32 fast break points, swiping 26 passes from the Falcons.

Westfield State will travel to Bridgewater State in what is a rematch of the 2023 MASCAC Championship game on Saturday, January 20 at 12:00 P.M. Fitchburg State will return home to host Bridgewater State on Wednesday, January 17 at 5:00 P.M.