Worcester State Women Get By Westfield State, 66-61
(Courtesy Westfield State College Sports Information) 

WESTFIELD – Junior reserve guard Natasha Dallas (Roxbury) had team highs of 15 points and seven rebounds in Worcester State’s balanced attack as the Lancers held on for a 66-61 victory over Westfield State Feb. 9.

The Lancers survived a second-half Westfield comeback to defeat the Owls for the second time this season. Worcester improved to 4-4 in the conference and 6-14 overall. Westfield is 2-6 and 8-13.

Worcester shot well from the field in the first half (52 percent) in taking a 31-26 lead at the intermission. The Lancers’ biggest lead was nine points, 44-35, with 15:33 remaining before the Owls’ mounted a fierce comeback.

Westfield outscored Worcester 19-4 over the next nine minutes to take a six-point, 54-48 lead with 6:49 remaining. Andrea Wasuk (Lenox) and Katie Sylvain (Hadley), who finished with 22 and 17 points, respectively, key the Owl scoring surge.

But Worcester didn’t fold and made the plays down the stretch. Trailing 57-54 with 4:20 remaining, the Lancers scored 10 unanswered points to take a commanding 64-57 lead with 19 seconds remaining.

While Westfield had the top two scorers in the game, Worcester’s balanced attack was led by Dallas, sophomore forward Brianne Flanders (Southampton/Hampshire Regional) with 13 points, senior forward Maureen Lemay (Nashua, NH) with 11 points and four assists, and freshman guard Alexis George (Worcester/Holy Name) with 10 points. Erin McCullough (Harvard) and Lindsay DellChaiaie (Leominster) added eight and seven points, respectively.

The Lancers shot 50 percent from the field and 81 percent (17-for-21) from the foul line.

Westfield only committed 12 turnovers and shot 41 percent from the field and 64 percent from the foul line. Wasuk was 10-for-13 from the charity stripe, and Katie Sylvain posted teams highs of five assists and seven rebounds.

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