BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- On senior day, the Bridgewater State College women's basketball team captured their first MASCAC regular season title since the 1985-86 season as the Bears downed Fitchburg State College, 64-53, this afternoon from the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.
This is the third regular season conference championship for the BSC women's basketball team and first under the guidance of head coach Bridgett Casey. The Bears wrap up the regular season with a 20-4 record and an 11-1 mark in the league.
BSC will be the top seed in next week's MASCAC Championship Tournament which gets underway on Tuesday night. The Bears have a first round bye and will host the tournament semifinals and championship game on Friday and Saturday. Bridgewater will take on the winner of the first round game between 4th seed Worcester State and 5th seed Westfield State on Friday at 6.
Senior forward Colleen Feeney (Providence, RI) notched her 22nd double-double of the season with 18 points and a game-high 17 rebounds to lead BSC to the exciting win as the Bears avenged their only conference loss of the season.
With her 18 points, Feeney set the Bears' single-season scoring record as she surpassed Samantha Curry's 2005-2006 mark of 486 points. Feeney now has 496 points on the season as she can become the first player in BSC women's basketball history to score 500 points in a season.
Also for the Bears, Caitlin Feeney (Providence, RI) finished with a game-high 19 points, 6 rebounds, a team-high 5 steals, and 3 assists. Senior guard Justine Farroba (North Attleboro, MA) also added 9 points for BSC including a game-clinching three-pointer with 1:09 left which gave the Bears a 59-50 advantage.
Colleen Feeney also tallied 4 blocks and scored 11 of her 18 points in the second half. Both Feeney's finished the game a combined 21-for-26 (81%) from the charity stripe. In fact as team, the Bears went to the line 39 times in the game as Fitchburg was whistled for 29 fouls. The Falcons had two starters foul out and two others with four fouls.
For Fitchburg State, junior forward Steph Payette (Townsend, MA) posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore guard Michelle Ridge (Milton, MA) chipped in with 10 points. Sophomore guard Krystle O'Brien (Malden, MA) added 7 points while grabbing 9 rebounds, 6 which came off the offensive glass.
The Falcons held a slight 47-44 rebounding advantage, but connected on just 16 of 61 field goal attempts (26%). Fitchburg also hit on just 6 of 22 three-point attempts, including 2-for-13 from behind the arc in the first half. Both teams combined for 52 turnovers in the game (28 for Fitchburg).
With the game knotted at 16-16 with 9:22 left in the first half, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run and held Bridgewater State scoreless for a 2½ minute stretch (22-16). At the 5:26 mark, the Bears answered back with a 13-2 run to take a 29-24 lead with 1:20 to go. Fitchburg ended the half by outscoring BSC 6-1 at the free throw line to knot the game at 30-30.
Bridgewater State opened the second half with an 11-2 run over the first seven minutes to take a 41-32 lead. Fitchburg State came storming back with a 7-0 run to make it a two-point game (41-39). Freshman guard Corey Cuddihy (Scituate, MA) hit a three-point shot to put the Bears up by five, but O'Brien answered with a trey to make it a 44-42 game (9:47).
Bridgewater State would then hold FSC scoreless over the next four minutes of play and bring the lead back up to 11 with the score of 51-42 (7:40).
The Falcons would make one final push at the end of the game, bringing the score to 56-50 with 2:28 left to play, but it was as close as they would get as Farroba's three iced the game.
Fitchburg State, the third seed, will host MCLA in a first round match-up on Tuesday night.
Story Written By Steven M. Miller, Jr --- Sports Information Correspondent