SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team opened the 2024-2025 season with an 80-57 setback to Division I Bryant University on Friday evening at the Chace Athletic Center.

The Bears (0-1) were playing the Division I Bulldogs for the second straight season. Head Coach Bridgett Casey, now in her 28th season at the helm of the BSU women's basketball program, played four seasons (1988-93) and scored 1,000 points at Bryant when it was a Division II program in the Northeast-10 Conference. She was also an assistant coach at Bryant for three seasons before taking over the BSU program in 1997.

Graduate student Ali Brigham (Franklin, Mass.) paced the Bulldogs with 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Fellow grad student Maranda Nyborg (Bethel, Conn.) added 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals for the hosts, while freshman Olivia Fernandez (Harrison, N.Y.) notched ten points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Graduate student Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.) led Bridgewater State with 13 points and four boards while senior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) contributed 12 points, 11 coming in the first half.

Then Bears jumped out to a 9-2 lead as seniors Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) and Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.), and junior Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, N.Y.) each knocked down three-pointers less than two minites into the game.

After a Brigham tip-in closed the gap to one, Grassi knocked down another trifecta to give the visitors a 12-8 lead.

The remainder of the openiong period was tightly contested. A Piche layup with 30 second remaining put the visitors up 22-19 before a last second tip-in by Brigham made it a 22-21 game at the end of one.

The second quater featured seven lead changes. A Grassi layup gave the Bears a 29-28 lead with 6:09 showing on the scoreboard. Bridgewater, however, would not score again in the period as the Bulldogs closed out the first half with a 17-0 run to take a 45-29 lead into the break. Brigham tallied nine points during the surge.

The Bulldogs outscored the Bears 21-11 in the third quarter to open a comfortable 66-40 advantage. Bryant scored first six points on the final period, capped off by a Silvia Gonzalez (So., Sant Adrià del Besòs, Catalunya) jumper, to take its biggest lead of the game at 72-40.

The BSU defense allowed just eight points the rest of the way as the Bears outscored the Bulldogs, 17-8, over the final seven minutes of the contest to account for the final tally of 80-57.

The Bears shot 37% (22-59) for game, including 6-for-19 (32%) from behind arc, and went 7-for-11 (64%) at the free throw line.

The Bulldogs converted 48% (36-75) of their field goal attempts, but finished just 5-for-26 (19%) from three-point range and 3-for-11 (27%) at the free throw line.

The two teams combined for 43 turnovers (BSU 23, Bryant 20).

Notes: Grassi increased her career total to 1,214 points as she now has sole possession of fifth place on the Bears' all-time scoring list.