Women’s Basketball Falls in MASCAC Semis

FITCHBURG, MA – The top seeded Fitchburg State College women's basketball team got a career-high 25 points from junior forward Diana Doyle (Springfield, MA) as the Falcons notched a convincing, 67-44, semi final victory over the fourth seeded Worcester State College Lancers Friday night at Fitchburg State College.  Fitchburg State improves to 24-2 on the year while the Lancers conclude their season at 14-13.

Fitchburg State opened up an 18 point lead in the first half as the Falcons led the Lancers, 38-20, at the break.  After Worcester State opened the game with 5 points straight points from Rachael Odugbela (Providence, RI), Fitchburg State went on a 23-4 run to take a 14 point lead, 23-9, with 9:49 remaining.


Fitchburg State got 16 first half points from Doyle on 6-of-10 shooting.  12 of Doyle's points came in the Fitchburg State burst.  Jen Fontaine (Dracut, MA) added 9 points and freshman guard Krystle O'Brien (Malden, MA) added 7 points.  O'Brien also had 5 steals for the Falcons.  Worcester State was careless with the ball in the half as they committed 21 turnovers.  Offensively, they were paced by Odugbela who had 9 first half points.  Fitchburg State shot 45.7% from the field in the half while the Lancers posted a 42.1% mark.


After Worcester State opened the second half with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 13 points, Fitchburg answered back with a 14-2 run to give them a 25 point lead, 52-27, with 12:54 remaining.  The Falcons would post a 30 point lead, 66-36, with 2:25 remaining and cruised to the 23 point victory.


Along with Doyle's 25 points, Fontaine finished with 11 points as the only Falcons to reach double figures in scoring.  Worcester State's Odugbela finished with a team-high 11 points as the Lancers shot just 32.7% on the night. Doyle’s previous career-high was 21 points at Emerson College.
 

Fitchburg State will take on the winner of the #2 Bridgewater State/#3 Salem State semi-final tomorrow afternoon in the MASCAC final with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 pm tomorrow afternoon at Fitchburg State.  The winner of that game will earn the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament. 
 

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