BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- In a MASCAC Women's Basketball Tournament semifinal action, the fourth seeded Trailblazers of MCLA upset top seed Bridgewater State College, 61-53, this evening at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.
MCLA (17-9) advances to the conference championship game tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM in Bridgewater. The Trailblazers will take on the winner of the other semifinal matchup between #2 Salem State College and #3 Worcester State College. Bridgewater State falls to 14-11 with the loss.
Freshman guard Lucy Tremblay (East Greenbush, NY) paced visiting MCLA with 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Sophomore forward Jen Wehner (Cooperstown, NY) added 13 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and four steals.
Junior guard Hilary Perks (Saugerties, NY) had a solid all-around game for the Trailblazers as she tallied 11 points, three boards, five assists, a block and two steals.
Bridgewater State sophomore forward Shelly DePina (New Bedford, MA) led the way for the Bears as she posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. DePina also recorded five steals and five of her game-high 11 boards came off the offensive glass. Freshman forward Michaela Cosby (Walpole, MA) led all players with 16 points as she was 6 of 9 from the floor and 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
The two teams combined for 57 turnovers as MCLA pulled out the victory despite turning the ball over 31 times. The Trailblazer, however, limited BSC to 33% (20-for-60) shooting, including just 3 of 16 (19%) from three-point range. MCLA, on the other hand, shot 51% (23-for-45) from the field. Bridgewater also scored just ten points off of the visitor's 31 miscues.
MCLA held Bridgewater to only two points over the first 12 minutes of the contest as the Trailblazers held an 11-2 lead with eight minutes to play in the opening stanza. A quick five-point outburst by DePina on a layup and three-pointer got the Bears right back into the game as they trailed by just four. The remainder of the first half was fairly evenly played as MCLA took a 26-21 lead into the intermission.
Bridgewater struggled early in the second half as the Bears scored just nine points over the first nine minutes. MCLA's lead ballooned to 12 (43-31) with 10:52 remaining in the contest.
Down 46-35 midway through period, the Bears started making some noise. A Heather McPherson (Mansfield, MA) layup and a three-point play from Cosby jumpstarted a 14-5 run over a six-minute stretch to pull the Bears to within two at 51-49.
A Tremblay jumper was answered by a DePina layup to keep it a two-point game again with 2:11 left to play.
BSC forced a miss on an ill-advised three-point attempt and got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead. The Bears, however, turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and were never able to recover. Wehner put in a layup at the 1:23 mark and MCLA went 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final minute to secure the upset victory.