Women's Basketball falls just short at Salem 59-55

Courtesy of Salem State Sports Information

SALEM, Mass. - Hannah Cravedi (Templeton, Mass.) scored the go-ahead layup with less than five seconds remaining to propel the Salem State Vikings to an exciting 59-55 victory over the MCLA Trailblazers on Saturday afternoon at Twohig Gymnasium in the Vikings' annual "Think Pink" game. Cravedi finished with eight points, five rebounds, and two assists. Cravedi scored the last five points for the Vikings to seal the win, including a three-point play with 3.3 seconds left in regulation. Salem State moves to 6-15 on the season and 3-6 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC). MCLA drops to 2-18 on the year and 0-9 in the MASCAC.  

Salem State's Mia Crawley (Hyannis, Mass.) layup in the post tied the game at 10-10 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter. It was a slow start for both teams on offense. The Trailblazers shot 18.2% (FG 2-11) from the field and the Vikings shot 27.3% (FG 3-11) from the floor.

With 7:58 to go in the second quarter, the Vikings took a 15-13 lead when Tatianna Iacoviello (Revere, Mass.) stole the ball from Olivia Pressley (Cobleskill, NY) and on the fastbreak, Iacoviello made a beautiful ball-fake, freezing the defender for an easy layup.

However, with 3:57 remaining in the second quarter, Jasmine Pszczola (Agawam, Mass.) scored on a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 18 for the Trailblazers.

The Vikings held a 27-22 lead over MCLA at halftime. The Trailblazers shooting woes continued in the second quarter; for the half, they shot 20% (FG 4-20). However, Salem State shot better in the second quarter converting 46.7% (FG 7-15) of their field goals. For the half, the Vikings improved their field-goal percentage to 37% (FG 10-26).

Nicole Freddo (Marblehead, Mass.) led all scorers with 11 points (FG 5-7) for Salem State.

In the third quarter, Kylah Langston (East Hartford, Conn.) drained a three from the corner to put the Trailblazers in front 33-30 with 5:49 left. Later, Pressley hit both free throws pushing the Trailblazers to a 52-47 lead with 3:49 remaining in the fourth quarter.

With 1:56 to go in the fourth quarter, the Vikings trailed 53-50 as Liz Zaiter (Peabody, Mass.) made a layup to bring Salem State to within three points. Twenty seconds later, Iacoviello was fouled and Salem State was in the bonus. During the dead ball, MCLA's head coach received a technical foul. The Vikings were awarded four free-throws and Iacoviello calmly converted all four to even the score at 55 with 25 seconds left in the game. 

Pressley missed a jump shot with ten seconds remaining in the game and Cravedi recovered the long rebound and in transition scored the layup while being fouled in the process. Cravedi made the three-point play to give Salem State a 58-55 lead. 

For the game, Salem State shot 31% (FG 18-57) from the field while MCLA shot 30.6% (FG 15-49) from the floor.     

Freddo finished with 16 points (FG 7-15, 3PT 1-3), three assists and three blocks for the Vikings. Crawley finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

For the Trailblazers, Hannah Mazzeo (Averill Park, NY) had a great performance of 18 points (FG 5-12, FT 8-10) and 20 rebounds. Langston finished with 18 points (FG 7-11, 3PT 1-1) and eight rebounds.