MASCAC Playoff Races Heat Up With Home Tripleheader on Saturday

WESTFIELD, Mass.  – With three weeks left in the regular season, the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference playoff races are heating up, and Westfield, Mass. will be the centerpiece of the action on Saturday, January 27, as the Owls host women's and men's basketball and ice hockey all in the same day.

At noon, the Owl women tip off against Framingham State at the Woodward Center, with the men's game following at 2:00 p.m.    Action moves to Amelia Park Arena at 5:35 p.m. when Owls hockey faces off with Salem State.

In the women's basketball game, Westfield (11-8 overall, 4-2 MASCAC) enters the game in third place in the league standings, one game back of the Rams.    The Rams (16-2 overall, 5-1 MASCAC) blitzed the Owls, 74-52 in Framingham back on January 3, as Westfield endured a brutal 18 percent shooting night from three-point range after missing their first 11 attempts.  This matchup has become one of the premier rivalries in the conference, as Westfield topped the Rams for the league title three straight year from 2016-18, and both squads consistently vie for the top of the conference table.

Westfield is led by newly-minted 1000-point scorer Olivia Hadla who's scoring 16.7 points per game this season.   Forward Jordan Grant is close on Hadla's heels in the scoring race, as she will enter the weekend with 948 career points in her career.   Grant is netting 16.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.   Framingham's Flannery O'Connor is sandwiched between Grant and Hadla in the conference's scoring leaders, as O'Connor averages 16.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.   Senior guard Gwen Carpenter scores 10 ppg and hands out a league-leading 6.9 assists per night.

The Westfield State men (13-6, 4-2 MASCAC) enter the game in a three-way tie for second in the conference standings.   The top two seeds in the league's post-season tournament will earn a first-round bye.   The Owl men blasted the Rams 116-79 in the conference opener on January 3, as the Owls had five players score in double figures.    Westfield is led by 14.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game from senior forward Brendon Hamilton.  The Owls are the highest-scoring team in the league at 85.2 points per game.   Framingham (5-14 overall, 0-6 MASCAC) has yet to win a game in conference play this season. Guard Adonis Vachon leads the Rams with 11.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

On the ice the Owls (10-7-1 overall, 7-6-1 MASCAC) currently sit in fourth place in the MASCAC standings, but only points separate the potential third through fifth seeds.   The Owls game against Salem begins the third and final rotation of the league's triple-round robin regular season schedule. 

The Vikings (5-13 overall, 5-9 MASCAC) scuttled the Owls 6-2 in the first meeting in Westfield back in November.  Westfield prevailed by a 6-3 final at Rockett Arena in Salem on January 3, with the Owls Gianluca Marini tallying a pair of third-period goals – including the game winner.  Westfield's Christopher Miraldo is the circuit second-leading goal getter with 14 on the year, and the tandem of Valtteri Valtonen and Kevin Chandler have been a strong duo in goal for the Owls.   Salem's Eric Larsson is second in the league in points with 22.

Come out and support the Owls at one – or all three – game(s) on Saturday.  If you can't make it to the game, live video and stats are available at WestfieldStateOwls.com