Women's Basketball Falls to WPI at Hampton Inn Tournament

Women's Basketball Falls to WPI at Hampton Inn Tournament

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team dropped a 69-57 decision to WPI in the semifinal round of the Hampton Inn Tip-Off Tournament hosted by the University of New England on Saturday evening.

Freshman McKenna Finken (Simsbury, Conn.) tallied a career-high of 17 points to pace WPI.

The Engineers improve to 3-0 with the win, while the Bears slip to 0-2 on the young season. WPI will take on Connecticut College in the tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon at three. Bridgewater State will face the host Nor'easters on Sunday at one in the consolation game.

Junior Spencer Vinson (Los Angeles, Calif.) added 12 points and a team-best eight rebounds and two blocked shots for the Engineers, while freshman Bailey Savage (Charlton, Mass.) followed with 11 points.

Senior Kailyn Aguiar (Acushnet, Mass.) posted a double-double of 12 points and a game-high ten rebounds to lead the way for the Bears, while junior Kayla Carter (Beverly, MA) scored a team-best 13 points.

WPI shot 45.9 percent from the field compared to BSU's 40.0 percent while both teams scored a quartet of 3-pointers and nine free throws. The Engineers largest margins were bench points (29-18) and fast break points (10-2) as the Bears scored 34 of the 64 points in the paint.

Bridgewater State won the first two quarters only to see WPI take the last two, including a 21-9 fourth.

With the score tied at 48-48 at the end of three, Savage opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and sophomore Maddie Blake (Bedford, N.H.) followed with a layup to give the Engineers a 53-48 lead. A Carter layup pulled the Bears to within three, but Vinson answered with a jumper to make the score 55-50 with 5:42 remaining. Later in the period, senior Alyssa Paul (Schaghticoke, NY) knocked down a jumper and Finken dropped in a layup to give the Engineers a nine-point cushion, 62-53, as the clocked ticked down to three minutes. Bridgewater would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as WPI pulled away for the double-digit victory.