Owls clamp down on Trailblazers

North Adams, MA- The visiting Westfield State University Owls clamped down defensively, as they held the Trailblazers to just 24% shooting en route to a convincing 65-43 victory over MCLA.  The Owls improve to 15-8 overall and 7-3 in the MASCAC.  MCLA falls to 8-14 overall, 0-9 in conference play.

The Owls set the tone defensively early on.  The grabbed total command midway through the opening half and never looked back.  Aside from holding the Trailblazers to poor shooting, they almost doubled up MCLA on the glass, owning a 59-30 edge in rebounding.

Westfield only placed a pair of players, Jen Ashton (12) and Briana Kelly (11), in double figures.  They did have ten players break into the scoring column though.

Westfield broke open a close game midway through the first half to take a 32-18 lead at the break.  With the score at 16-11 in favor of Westfield, the Owls went on a 12-3 spurt fueled by four points each from Forbashaw Nkamebo and Angela Paterson to double up MCLA 28-14. The teams would trade baskets into the locker room over the next two minutes to settle on the halftime score.  The Trailblazers shot just 21% in the opening half and were outrebounded by a wide 30-14 margin over the opening twenty minutes.

The second half was more of the same for the Owls.  They quickly scored the first six out of the locker room to grab a 38-18 lead with 16:22 left.  The lead would swell to 28 points at 53-25 at the 9:35 mark.  MCLA would never get any closer than the final margin.

The defensive effort by the Owls held Trailblazer leading scorer Lucy Tremblay to just 7 points on 2-18 shooting.  That included an 0-10 performance from behind the arc. 

MCLA was led offensively by Kaitlyn Chenevert's game high 16 points.  No other Trailblazer reached double figures.

For the Owls, Ashton was 5-6 from the floor in collecting her 12 points.  She added 5 assists for Westfield.  Forbashaw Nkamebo finished with 6 points, but did grab a game high 9 boards.  Tania Ortiz also chipped in with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

MCLA will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Framingham State.