Women's Basketball Falls at Bridgewater State

Kaleigh Anderson (@KaleighAnd1)

BRIDGEWATER, MASS. – The Elms College Women's Basketball team fell to host Bridgewater State University, 73-50, in non-conference play at the John K. Kelly Gymnasium Thursday evening. With the loss the Blazers drop to 4-6 on the season, while the Bears improve to 3-8 overall.

Bridgewater came out of the pen on a hot note with Sara DaSilva (Chelmsford, Mass.) quickly netting the first jumper of the game, however the Blazers weren't far behind after a DaSilva foul sent senior JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) to the line to net a pair.  Pickett would go on to sink her next two free throws as well tying the contest to a 4-4 score at the 7:54 mark. From there the Bears would continue on a six point run sparked from the hands of Chantelle Melton (Brockton, Mass.) who posted for two at the 7:30 mark. Elms fought back with bullets of their own as junior Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) and sophomore Octavia McAllister (Springfield, Mass.) each rang up a layup apiece, sending the Blazers into the second trailing 20-13. 

At the start of the second, junior Alexandra Marques (Newington, Conn.) got to work immediately sinking two for Elms just 18 seconds into the quarter, a Pickett bucket would follow shortening the deficit to 17-22. Marques stepped into action for the Blazers once again netting a layup off the board to bring the Blazers shortage down to three. However that is as close as Elms would get for the remainder of the contest as the Bears were able to consistently push back the Elms offense. At the 4:38 mark a Vanesa Conceicao (New, Bedford, Mass.) three echoed high at the John K. Kelly Gymnasium aiding the bears in furthering their 29-21 lead. Senior Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) closed the scoring column in the second for Elms posting a pair of free throws and the Bears headed into the locker room holding the 35-23 advantage.

Elms came out steady in the third with Burr placing the first basket of the quarter bringing the deficit down to ten. Nevertheless, Bridgewater battled back going on a 14 point run lead by Dasilva who sank a jumper and then hit a three to spark momentum at the 7:04 mark. The bears would carry this energy with them into the fourth continuing to push ahead despite back-to-back three's off of the hands of freshman Kayla Aberdale (Housatonic, Mass.) starting at the 2:23 mark. In the end the Bears were able to come away with the win owning at 73-50 score.

Pickett led the Blazers with ten points, five rebounds, including four defensive rebounds, shooting 3 –of- 6 from the floor. Marques posted eight points and four rebounds in the effort. Aberdale collected eight points and three rebounds off of the bench going 2- for-5 on three point attempts.

The Bears were paced by game high scorer Melton who collected 13 points going 6- for- 10 on the floor while collecting six rebounds. Conceicao tallied 12 points and five steals for Bridgewater.

The Blazers edged the Bears in rebounding (37-32) and second chance points (5-2). The Blazers totaled 33.9% from the field (19-56), including 18.2% from the three-point line (2-11), and 76.9% from the foul line (10-13). Bridgewater shot 52.5% from the floor (31-59), 31.6% from three point range (6-19), and 50.0% from the foul line (5-10).

The Blazers will travel to Wheelock for a conference tilt Saturday, January 9^th at 12:00 p.m. The Bears will host Framingham State at home January 9^th at 1:00 p.m.