Women's hoops drops conference tilt to Westfield 90-69
Westfield, MA- The Westfield State Owls placed four players in double figures led by Jill Valley's 18 points as they cruised past the MCLA Trailblazers women's basketball team 90-69 in MASCAC action in the Woodward Center. With the win, the Owls move to 9-4 overall and stand at 2-0 in conference play. The Trailblazers suffer their second straight setback in dropping to 8-5 overall and 0-2 in the MASCAC.
After one quarter, the Owls led 26-22 but put some separation between the teams with a stong second quarter surge. They outscored MCLA 25-13 in the period to snag a commanding 51-35 halftime lead.
MCLA's Ashley Clawson would pull the Trailblazers within 14 points at 58-44, but Westfield responded with a Kierra McCarthy triple and they were never threatened the rest of the way. The lead grew to as many as 23 in the second half before settling on the final margin.
The Trailblazers were paced by Kayla Hotaling's game high 19 point effort. She added 8 rebounds and 4 assists to pace MCLA. Clawson added a season best 15 points and dished out 3 helpers. Samanthan Gawron and Courtney Pingelski added 9 points each.
MCLA was hampered by the frenetic pace of the Owls and committed a season high 39 turnovers.
For the Owls, Valley was 6-11 from the floor for her 18 points. Forbasaw Nkamebo added a double double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kirsy Segarra and Alyssa Darling each had 10 points for the Owls.
Westfield held a 53-48 rebounding advantage, but collected 27 offensive rebounds in the win.
MCLA will look to get in the win column in conference play on Wednesday night when they take on Salem State in the Amsler Campus Center Gym.