By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- For the third straight year, the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team has reached the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game.

With six players scoring in double figures and senior Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.) breaking the program's record for assists in a game, the Bears advanced with a 105-94 victory over Westfield State University Thursday night.

Second-seeded BSU (15-11) will travel to top-seeded Framingham State University (23-2) looking for its second consecutive MASCAC title on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner earns a spot in the NCAA Division 3 tourney, which begins next week.

Playing before a large crowd at the Tinsley Center, the Bears opened a 28-point lead early in the second half, then held on as the third-seeded Owls closed within seven points with less than four minutes to go.

BSU fought off Westfield State (17-10) in a rematch of the wild 2023 MASCAC title game.

"It's a dogfight with them all the time," said Bears coach Bridgett Casey. "It's a 40-minute game. You can't take any possessions off. We're up 25 in the first half and looking really, really, really good and next thing you know it's down to seven.

"We had a lot of adversity, but I thought we showed mental toughness. I was super proud of them the way they handled themselves. It easily could have gone the other way. They stuck to the script. It was hairy and rocky at times, but we're moving on."

Tripp handed out 18 assists, breaking the record of 15 that was held by BSU Hall of Famer JoAnne Runge (against Clark on Feb. 6, 1985) and Elisha Homich (versus Framingham State on Feb. 21, 2013).

The senior, who played all 40 minutes, also scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals and two blocked shots. The double-double marked Tripp's second of the season. 

Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) led the scoring with 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting while playing all 40 minutes. Grassi, a junior, ranks sixth on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,192 points. She also became the second player in program history to score 500 points (525) in a season joining Colleen Feeney who poured in a school record 548 points in 2007-2008.

Graduate student Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added 21 points, hitting 6 of 11 shots from 3-point range.

Bradbury broke the school single-season record for made three-pointer passing Hannah Dziadyk who knocked down 74 trifectas in 2019-20. Bradbury has 79 three-pointers on the season and 201 in her career. She is just the second player in program history to connect for 200 three-pointers joining BSU Hall of Famer Jenna Williamson (2010-14) who holds the Bears' all-time record with 210.

Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) made 6 of 8 shots and recorded her first collegiate double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Sophia Gaucher (Lakeville, Mass.) had 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) came off the bench to contribute 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting plus seven rebounds and three assists.

The Bears, who lost at Westfield State last week in the regular-season finale to cost themselves a share of the MASCAC title, were focused from the start against Westfield. They were up, 29-16, after the first quarter and 58-33 at halftime with a vocal crowd behind them from the opening tip.

"It was nuts," said Tripp. "We knew it was going to be crowded, I didn't know it was going to be like that. It was a full gym, everybody was wearing white. It definitely helped us being at home after going there last week and losing. We knew we could do it and they were a huge, huge part."

BSU made 58 percent of its first-half shots to open the 25-point lead and limited the Owls to 30 percent shooting. Grassi (16) and Bradbury (15) combined for 31 of the 58 points and Tripp had 12 of her assists.

But after the Owls fell behind, 64-34, in the first minute of the second half, they made a move. A 3-pointer just before the buzzer by Morgan Berthiaume (Webster, Mass.) pulled Westfield State within 80-65 going into the final 10 minutes.

BSU's lead continued to shrink in the fourth quarter. The Bears were ahead, 90-71, with 6:16 left after a jumper by D'Amours, but the Owls scored 12 straight points to make it 90 83 with 4:40 left.

The Bears responded with six points in a row by Grassi, Cleveland and Tripp for a 96-83 lead and Westfield State never got closer than nine the remainder of the game.

BSU's incredible start in the first half provided a cushion as the Bears rebounded from the road loss to the Owls just a week ago.

"They were on a mission," said Casey. "They knew we blew one last Wednesday to lose basically first place. They had that in the back of their minds. They set the tone and went from there."

Tripp had the offense rolling, and the Bears shot 57 percent (36-for-63) while going 11-for-19 on 3-pointers. That was done against a pressing Westfield State, which substitutes five players in on numerous occasions.

"Obviously, it's a super-paced game, which I'm fine with," said Tripp. "I can play that way. We worked a lot this week on just staying composed. We threw a lot of people in practice on defense to get us to get the ball and take a few breaths, look at what we have and more importantly go to open space.

"Yeah, I had some great passes and it worked out, but it's the people who went to the right places at the right time."

Said Casey: "They were sagging off of her. She did a solid job. When she can be that type of floor general, we're going to be very tough to beat. When Syd is hitting from the outside like that, when KG is on like that, Jess was huge inside with her rebounding and Arielle was solid, we're tough."

Maddie Pond (Holyoke, Mass.) led Westfield State with 27 points and six steals while Octaviana Williams (Springfield, Mass.) added 13 points. Pond scored 66 points in two tournament games for the Owls.

BSU is now 7-4 against Westfield State in the MASCAC tournament and has 18 straight conference tourney wins at the Tinsley Center since the 2010-11 season.

The Bears and Framingham State split the season series. BSU won at home, 56-47, on Jan. 6 and lost on the road 25 days later, 59-58.

Framingham State advanced on Thursday night with an 81-55 victory over Salem State.

Notes: Bradbury increased her career scoring total to 1,058 points as she moved into 15th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list surpassing current BSU assistant coach Chanelle Melton (1.048 pts.) and Lora O'Connell (1,051 pts.).