BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior forward Kailyn Aguiar (Acushnet, Mass.) posted her sixth double-double of the season to lead the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team to a convincing 80-37 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over visiting MCLA on Wednesday night at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 9-11 on the season and 4-3 MASCAC, while the visiting Trailblazers fall to 4-15 overall and 0-8 in conference play. The 37 points marked the fewest Bridgewater has given up this season.
Aguiar tallied a game-high 19 points on 9 of 15 shooting to go along with a game-best 12 rebounds with eight coming off the offensive glass. She also added two assists and two blocked shots.
Senior guard Olivia DelGrosso (Ledyard, Conn.) added 12 points for the Bears, while classmate Sara DaSilva (Chelmsford, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with eight points, three rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals, and junior forward Kayla Carter (Beverly, Mass.) notched six points, six boards, three assists and two steals.
Senior forward L'Rae Brundige (Johnsonville, N.Y.) paced the Trailblazers with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists, while senior guard Karina Mattera (Johnston, R.I.) scored ten points in 22 minutes off the bench.
Clinging to a one-point lead (20-19) early in the second quarter, the Bears went on a 13-2 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers by Bostick and senior guard Danielle Arcidiacono (Bellingham, Mass.) and a traditional three-point play by Aguiar, to open up a 12-point advantage, 33-21, with 4:34 remaining in the first half. Bridgewater, however, scored just one point over the next four minutes as the Trailblazers closed the gap to seven (34-27) following a pair of buckets from Brundige and a Samantha Gawron (South Hadley, Mass.) layup. Gawron's layup came with 3:08 remaining, but MCLA went scoreless for the rest of the period. A Bostick three-pointer in the closing seconds ended the scoring drought as the Bears went into the break with a 37-27 lead.
Brundige scored ten points over the first 20 minutes to lead all players, while Aguiar paced the Bears with seven. Bridgewater shot 46% (16-35) from the floor in the first half including 3-for-11 (27%) from behind the arc. MCLA connected on 46% (13-28) of its field goal attempts and went 0-for-6 from long range. The Bears held a 23-13 rebounding advantage in the first half with a 9-3 edge in offensive boards.
Bridgewater dominated play in the second half as they outscored the Trailblazers 43-10 over the final two periods. The BSU defense forced 18 turnovers and held MCLA to 3-for-20 shooting over the last 20 minutes of the contest.
Thirteen different players scored for the Bears who got up by as many as 43 points twice in the fourth quarter including the final score of 80-37. Bridgewater shot 50% (18-36) in the second half and 48% (34-71) for the game. Aguiar scored 12 of her 19 points over the last two quarters.
The Bears finished with a 48-29 rebounding advantage with a 18-7 margin on the offensive glass which led to a 23-5 edge in second chance points. Bridgewater also outscored MCLA, 50-18, in the paint and held a 38-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
The BSU bench outscored the MCLA reserves, 30-11, led by eight points from sophomore forward Destiny Fitzgerald (Medford, Mass.) and six from Bostick.
The MASCAC schedule continues for both teams on Saturday afternoon. The Bears travel to Westfield State University to take on the Owls at two, while the Trailblazers entertain the Lancers of Worcester State University at one.