Women's Basketball Posts 59-23 MASCAC Win Over MCLA

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team rebounded from its first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference loss on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears led from start to finish in a 59-23 victory over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts at the Amsler Campus Center Gym.

BSU (12-10 overall) is now 8-1 in the MASCAC, tied for first place with Framingham State University. The Rams handed the Bears their initial conference defeat on Wednesday night.

Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) was the game's top scorer with 18 points, giving her 1,122 points for eighth place on the program's all-time list.

Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added 12 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and has 974 career points.

Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) contributed nine points and six rebounds while Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) had six points and six rebounds.

MCLA (4-18, 1-8 MASCAC) was led by Hailey Peabody (West Springfield, Mass.) with 10 points.

The Bears limited the Trailblazers to 10 percent shooting (4-for-39), and MCLA missed all 11 of its 3-point attempts. BSU scored 20 points off 23 turnovers and limited the hosts to four first-half points.

The Bears held a 15-2 lead after the first quarter when MCLA made just one of 10 shots and had four turnovers.

BSU ran out to a quick 7-0 lead just 2:42 into the game on a 3-pointer by Bradbury and layups by Grassi and Cleveland.

After Peabody scored MCLA's lone points of the quarter with 6:53 remaining, BSU registered the final eight points with Eryn Rice (Medway, Mass.) and Bradbury hitting 3-pointers.

There was a stretch of nearly four minutes in the quarter when neither team scored a point. BSU finished with 6-for-18 shooting and four turnovers in the session.

MCLA was again held to two points (foul shots by Peabody and Maddie Teta) in the second quarter, which ended with BSU in front, 24-4.

The Trailblazers went 0-for-7 from the floor with seven turnovers in the quarter.

Cleveland had the first basket of the quarter with 7:12 to go, then finished the scoring with a layup with 28 seconds to go for the 20-point lead at the half.

MCLA moved within 24-11 by starting the third quarter with seven straight points. The Bears missed all six shots and turned the ball over three times before getting their first points of the second half.

Grassi, who had eight points in the quarter, opened the lead to 29-11 with a layup and a 3-pointer in less than a minute.

BSU ended the third quarter on a 14-4 run, Bradbury hitting a 3-pointer with two seconds to go.

The Trailblazers were just 3-for-28 from the field with 17 turnovers through three quarters.

The lead reached 30 points (46-16) when Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.) scored on a layup with 7:32 to go.

The Bears have won 27 straight games against MCLA.

BSU plays its final two regular-season home games on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against Worcester State and Fitchburg State on Saturday at noon. Wednesday will be the Play4Kay Game for cancer awareness.

MCLA travels to Salem State for a 5 p.m. game on Wednesday.