FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Top-seeded Framingham State University captured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) title with a 74-62 victory over #2 Bridgewater State University in the championship game of the 2024 MASCAC Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the FSU Athletic and Recreation Center.

The Rams (24-2), who extended their winning streak to 12 games, claimed their third conference crown in the last four seasons and advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third time in program history. The 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Selection Show will air Monday, February 26th at 2:30 PM ET on NCAA.com.

The visiting Bears end the season with an overall record of 15-12.

Kelsey Yelle (South Easton, Mass.) paced Framingham State with a game-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds.

Flannery O'Connor (Amesbury, Mass.) and Gwendolyn Carpenter (Ashley Falls, Mass.) each recorded double-doubles for the Rams. O'Connor, the tournament MVP, tallied 18 points and game-best 14 rebounds as she was 5-for-6 from the floor and 8-for-10 at the free throw line. Carpenter notched 13 points and a game-high 11 assists as well as eight rebounds.

Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) led Bridgewater State with a season-high 16 points in 32 minutes off the bench. Cleveland, who knocked down 3 of 5 three-point attempts, also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added 18 points for the Bears who also received 12 points from Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and ten points from Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.). Bradbury connected on 4 of 12 three-pointers as she finished the season with a school single-season record 83 trifectas as well as 205 in her career.

Bridgewater led 19-18 after the first quarter with Bradbury scoring eight points on 3-for-3 shooting in the opening session including a pair of three-pointers.  The Bears were whistled for seven fouls in the period.

Both teams struggled with their shooting in a low scoring second quarter. Trailing by five (25-20) midway through the period, the Rams used a 9-0 run with Carpenter and Yelle combining for all nine points to take a 29-25 lead. The Bears, however, closed out the half with a 6-0 spurt on a Cleveland layup and two free throws apiece from Bradbury and Grassi to head into the break with a 31-29 advantage.

Yelle scored nine points on 4 of 5 shooting in a back-and-forth third quarter with Bradbury and D'Amours tallying eight points apiece for the Bears. A Grassi layup with 30 seconds remaining in the period put the visitors on top, 53-52.

A Cleveland three-pointer with 6:18 showing on the fourth quarter scoreboard knotted the game at 61-61. Bridgewater, however, would score just one point (a Cleveland free throw) over the final six-plus minutes. The Bears missed their final nine field goals attempts including five three-point tries. Framingham closed out the game with a 13-1 run jumpstarted by a Chloe Rayko (Coventry, R.I.) trifecta. It was only the second three-pointer the Rams made in the game.

Framingham finished with a decided 54-32 rebounding advantage with a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass which led to a 11-3 differential in second chance points.

The Rams shot just 37% for the game with a 2-for-14 clip from behind the arc. The FSU defense, however, held the Bears to 33% shooting.

Fouls and free throws were the deciding factor in the game as Framingham made twice as many free throws (28) as Bridgewater attempted (14). The Rams knocked down 28 of 35 (80%) free throw attempts while the Bears went 11-for-14 (78.6%) at the charity stripe. The visitors were whistled for 24 fouls on the afternoon.

Notes: Bradbury wrapped up her BSU career with 1,076 points as she moved into 13th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list surpassing both Samantha Curry (1,069 pts.) and Jessica Worden (1,072 pts.)…Grassi set the Bears' single-season scoring average recorded as she finished the 2023-2024 campaign with 20.6 points per game surpassing the previous mark of 20.3 points per game set by Colleen Feeney in 2007-2008...Grassi tied Megan Boutilette (1,052 pts.) for fifth place on the Bears' all-time scoring list.