Women's Basketball Season Ends in Conference Semifinals

WESTFIELD, Mass.    –   Westfield State University's women's basketball season came to a conclusion on Thursday night, as the Owls fell to Bridgewater State, 72-46 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference semifinals in Bridgewater, Mass.

Westfield sees its season end with 16-10 record, while top-seed Bridgewater is now 18-6 and will host #2 Framingham State in the conference championship game on Saturday.  The Owls finish the season with a record better than .500 for the 14^th consecutive year.

Westfield jumped out to and early lead and held a 17-15 lead after one quarter.

The Owls shooting went cold, combined with defensive pressure from the Bears that forced 22 Owls turnovers in the game, and Bridgewater held the Owls to just seven points in the second quarter to lead 37-24 at the half.  The Owls shot just 3-14 in the second quarter and were 0-8 from behind the three-point arc.

Bridgewater started second half with a 8-0 run over the first 4:24 of the third quarter to build a 21 point lead.

Westfield trimmed the lead to as few as 14 on a Jordan Grant layup with 9:36 left in the game, but that is as close as the Owls would get.

Maddie Pond led the Owls with nine points, with Grant adding eight. Caroline Galvani and Morgan Berthiaume each netted six.  Tavi Williams led the Owls with nine rebounds.  Jess Gardner grabbed seven boards.

Bridgewater was led by 14 points off the bench from Jordan Peebles, Jessica D'Amours added 11 points and six rebounds.  Kylie Grassi finished with nine points, eight rebounds and four steals.

The Bears eliminated the Owls from the conference tournament in Bridgewater for the fourth straight year. The Owls and Bears met in the 2023 championship game, with the other three meetings in the league semifinals.

The loss ends the fine careers of Grant, Gardner, Pond, Olivia Hadla, Hannah Sheldon and Caellen Foley.

Grant finishes with 1,486 career points, ranking fifth all time at Westfield , and registers among the Owls' career leaders with 583 rebounds, 78 blocked shots and a 49.7 percent field goals percentage.

Hadla caps her career with 1,447 points (seventh all time at Westfield), 218 three pointers (third) and 264 steals (fifth).

Pond totaled 897 career points (23^rd in Owls history) 170 three pointers (7^th) and 255 steals (sixth)

Gardner played in 107 games, 562 points and 542 rebounds to crack the top 20 among Owls career rebounders.  Sheldon finishes with 462 points and 162 steals.