By Jim Fenton

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

The Bears clinched the regular-season championship on Saturday afternoon with an 85-58 victory over Fitchburg State University.

BSU, which has won nine straight games, improved to 16-6 and is 8-1 in the MASCAC with one game remaining.

The Bears are riding a nine-game winning streak, their longest since a 10-game streak from Jan. 2-Feb. 24, 2022. They have not lost since the conference opener against Salem State University on Jan. 8.

BSU has won seven outright MASCAC regular-season titles (1985, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2023 and 2025). The Bears also shared championships in 1986 and 2014.

BSU will have a bye in the conference tournament and will host a semifinal-round game at the Tinsley Center on Feb. 27 (6:00 PM).

The Bears never trailed Fitchburg State (3-20, 0-8) and have defeated the Falcons (3-20, 0-8 MASCAC) 14 straight games since their last loss on Feb. 17, 2018.

Senior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) led BSU with 19 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and grabbed five rebounds.

Senior Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) had her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists.

Graduate student Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.), who was playing in her 100th career game, added 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Senior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) chipped in with eight points and five rebounds. BSU had 12 players score at least two points.

Fitchburg State's top scorer was senior Rylie Harlow (Hanson, Mass.) with 15 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists.

Senior Kathryn Hart (Shirley, Mass.) added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Bears shot 42 percent while Fitchburg State made 32 percent of its shots and had 19 turnovers.

BSU jumped to a 7-0 lead 2:32 into the game on a layup by Piche, a 3-pointer by Grassi and a jumper by D'Amours.

The Falcons missed their first seven shots before a 3-pointer by junior Aliza Som (Lowell, Mass.) made it 7-3.

Cleveland hit a 3-pointer and a layup to up the lead to 12-3 and after Fitchburg State moved within six, BSU built an 18-8 lead with 2:39 remaining in the quarter.

The Bears had a 24-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes with Grassi scoring on a layup to finish the quarter.

BSU was ahead, 48-25, at halftime, getting 10 points from Grassi and nine each from Cleveland (10 rebounds) and Piche.

The Bears opened the second quarter on a 15-2 run for a 39-14 lead with 6:01 left before halftime.

The highest lead of the half was 43-16 with 3:56 remaining after a Grassi layup. The Falcons got within 23 thanks to six points in the final 1:25.

BSU held a 75-48 lead going into the fourth quarter, using a 19-3 run in the third quarter to extend the lead.

A Cleveland 3-pointer 1:48 into the second half put the Bears up, 54-29, but the Falcons scored nine straight points to get the deficit down to 54-38, Hart scoring five of the points.

BSU responded by putting together that 19-3 run as eight different players scored over a span of nearly five minutes.

The Falcons hit only 1 of 6 shots and turned the ball over five times, putting them in a 73-41 hole with 1:59 left in the quarter.

The biggest BSU lead of the fourth quarter was 30 and Fitchburg State was no closer than 26 in the final 10 minutes.

BSU finishes the regular season on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., hosting second-place Westfield State University. The Bears are 10-3 at the Tinsley Center.

Fitchburg State has a 5 p.m. game Wednesday at Salem State University.