Tourney MVP Williams Leads Owls to Westfield Gas & Electric Tip Off Title

WESTFIELD, Mass. -  Westfield State University senior guard Tavi Williams (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug HS) scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the championship game to lead the Owls to a 75-66 win over Albright (Pa.) College to win the 2025 Westfield Gas and Electric Tip Off Tournament at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Williams was named as the tournament MVP.

The Owls improve to 4-1 on the season, while Albright is now 1-4.

Williams was one of five Owls players to score in double-figures. Mya Silveira (N. Smithfield, RI) tied her for the team lead with 12 points, Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass./Douglas) netted 11 points with eight steals, six assists and four rebounds, Grace Wigington (Lenox, Mass./IMG Academy) scored 10 points and Sophia Rockwood (Windsor, Vt.) also added 10.

Williams helped the Owls jump out to a lead that extended to as many as 16 points on a Williams 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the first half, with Westfield holding a 43-32 lead at halftime.

In the fourth quarter Albright ground away at the Owls lead, trimming it to as few as four, 68-64 on a Julia Zakovitch jumper in the paint with 4:03 left in the game.  Westfield struggled to score late, but boosted the lead back to six, 70-64 on a steal by Berthiaume and layup from Wigington with 1:44 left and the Lions were forced to foul down the stretch.  Westfield canned five of six free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win.

Chrisdin Jones (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) led Albright with 20 points and 14 rebounds.   6-2 center Orianna Edmond (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) added 16 points and eight boards.

Westfield forced 38 turnovers from the Lions, and were plus-13 in the turnover game.  The Owls connected on 10 of 38 three pointers, with more made three point field goals than in their previous two games combined.

Williams' 18 rebounds were a career high for the 5-4 guard.  She grabbed 17 in a game against Coast Guard as a first-year player in the 2022-23 season.   It was the fourth game this season with double-figure rebounds for Williams, who is averaging 12.6 boards per game.

Westfield avenged an 89-74 loss at Albright from last season.  The Pennsylvania school was a late addition to the Owls' schedule in 2024-25 when they lost several games from the schedule just before the season began.  The Lions returned the favor of the long trip by coming to the Westfield Gas and Electric Tip Off Tournament this season.

Westfield will play at Elms College on Tuesday evening before taking a break for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

CONSOLATION GAME

Junior forward Vanessa Hall posted a game-high 21 points as Utica used a 12-0 run to cruise out to an early advantage and build upon the lead as part of a 68-43 win over Mitchell College in the Westfield Gas & Electric consolation game from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

Mitchell scored the first five points of the game before Utica went on a 12-0 run where they would hold the lead for the remainder of the game. Hall outscored Mitchell in the first half, totaling 19 points to the Mariners 16 total points.

The Mariners went into a scoring drought of over six minutes, spanning from the end of the first into the second quarter which allowed Utica to open a 16-point advantage at 25-9. The Pioneers nailed six triples in the first half with Hall and Madison Marusic each hitting a pair of threes.

Utica led by 24 heading into the break (40-16), their largest lead of the half in part to tremendous ball security – One turnover compared to nine from Mitchell.

The second half was evenly played with Utica outscoring Mitchell by one point, but the damage was done in the first half. 14 different Utica players got in the scoring column as evidence by the bench margin with the Pioneers holding a plus-16 bench point margin. Utica doubled the Mariners in points in the paint (28-14) and were plus-13 in points off turnovers (17-4).

Jamya Beddoe led Mitchell with ten points while Jade Hypolite added eight points and seven rebounds.