Owls Fall to St. Lawrence, 70-64 in Westfield Gas and Electric Tip-Off Tournament Title Game

 WESTFIELD, Mass. – St. Lawrence University 's Jackie Malley (Reading, Mass.) performed an impressive 21-point game with seven three-pointers to earn MVP honors and lead the Saints to win the Westfield Gas & Electric Tip-Off Tournament over the Westfield State Owls, with a final score of 70-64 at the Woodward Center, Saturday afternoon.

The Saints improve to 6-0 on the season, while the Owls are now 4-2.

Owls senior Olivia Hadla (Westfield, Mass.) and junior Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) showcased a offense that was dynamic at times, kept Westfield in the game throughout all four quarters. Hadla led the team in scoring with 16 points and Berthiaume scored 11 points and topped the team in assists, contributing 4.  Sophia DeAngelis added 10 points.

St. Lawrence led 39-32 at the half.  The Saints extended their lead to as many as 12 points on several occasions in the third quarter, but the Owls closed with a flurry, trimming the margin down to 50-46 as Hadla picked up a steal and laid the ball in at the buzzer to close the period.

In the fourth quarter, St. Lawrence came in strong with three consecutive three-pointers scored within a minute, supplied by Malley and McHarney. The Owls' guards, Hadla and Caroline Galvani (Framingham, Mass.) quickly turned the tide, each sinking three-pointers that forced a Saints' time-out, as they cut the deficit to two points, bringing the score to 61-59. Tavi Williams then put the Owls ahead briefly with a three-pointer, making it 62-61, but St. Lawrence responded immediately, with Malley with another triple, giving them a narrow lead at 64-62. The Saints sealed the win with a three from Annie Perry (Wareham, Mass.) that put them up 69-64 with 26 seconds remaining 69-64.

Both teams used two different playing styles, with Westfield getting more of their points on an inside game, with 53% of their points scored in the paint and only seven three-pointers made in 35 attempts. While St. Lawrence made 12 three-pointers and only 14 points in the paint.

The Owls took all the momentum at the start of the first quarter. St. Lawrence performed well shooting 4-8 of their threes, two of those from Malley. Tavi Williams' (Springfield, Mass.) three-point shot at the last second of the quarter, assisted by Morgan Berthiaume helped establish a 3-point lead, 22-19.

The Saints shot an impressive 75% from the free throw line and scored 14 second-chance points.  McHarney added 14 points, 8 rebounds and seven assists, and got points from nine different players.

Westfield will host Elms College on November 26th at 5:30 PM, while St. Lawrence's will face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on December 6th at 5:30 PM.

-- written by Ashlyn Nichols, sports info intern

CONSOLATION GAME:   Utica 69, Wellesley 58

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Utica junior McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, N.Y.) logged a game-leading 23 points and grabbed ten rebounds as the Pioneers held off a fourth-quarter surge from Wellesley, prevailing 69-58 in the Westfield Gas & Electric consolation game on Saturday afternoon from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

Simmons averaged 22.5 points per game and 11.5 rebounds across both games while teammate Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, N.Y.) registered 19 points against The Blue, tallying 25.5 points and 8.0 rebounds during the tournament.

Mirella Funari (Phoenix, Ariz.) led The Blue with 19 points, adding seven rebounds and six steals. Trinity Barrow (Evans, Ga.) chipped in 13 points, ten rebounds, and a game-high eight steals. Barrow recorded 11.0 points and 8.5 rebounds through both tournament games.

Utica used a hot shooting start to grab an early double-digit lead. The Pioneers tallied 21 first-quarter points on 9-14 shooting with Hall picking up where she left off yesterday with nine points in the period on 4-6 shooting.

The Pioneers scored the first eight points of the game with Hayleigh Lagase (Wallingford, Conn.) tallying five of the opening eight. A Simmons layup pushed the Pioneers lead into double figures with 4:57 remaining in the frame.

Hall and Simmons converted layups to extend the lead to 14 points before Stacy Chen's (Minneapolis, Minn.) layup from Wellesley brought the deficit to 12 points after one quarter. The Blue were held to just 3-12 shooting with six turnovers in the first ten minutes of action.

With two minutes left in the half, Utica extended the lead to their largest of the half at 15 points after a jumper from Natalie Cornell (Greenwood, N.Y.) made it a 32-17 game with 2:09 left. Wellesley closed the gap to 11 to end the half after split free throws from Chen and Barrow followed by a put back lay-in from Funari with five seconds left in the half to make it a 32-21 halftime score.

With 6:18 left in the third, The Blue trimmed the Pioneers lead to single digits after a reverse layup on the baseline from Arielle LePage (Wayne, Penn.) made it a 39-30 contest. With Utica still leading by nine, the Pioneers closed the final 2:09 of the third on a 10-0 run with Hall and Simmons scoring layups, then Hall drew a double team in the paint and dished a pass to the corner where Kelsey McCaskill (Rome, N.Y.) nailed a three, pushing the lead to 17 before an additional free throw from McCaskill gave Utica an 18-point lead entering the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, The Blue ramped up their defensive pressure, forcing 14 Utica turnovers in the period, outscoring the Pioneers by seven in the frame, but not enough to overcome the 18-point lead the Pioneers built up through the first three quarters. Barrow totaled seven of her game-leading eight thefts in the fourth quarter, fronting The Blue pressure.