WESTFIELD, Mass.  --   Top-seeded Westfield State University women’s basketball completed the three-peat, defeating Framingham State 90-75 behind 15 points and seven rebounds from Tournament MVP Kierra McCarthy in the 2018 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball championship game at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Westfield State receives the MASCAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  The pairings will be announced on Monday at 2:30 p.m. with a live selection show at NCAA.com.

Westfield earns its fifth MASCAC tournament title (and third straight, defeating Framingham in all three from 2015-17) and the Owls will receive their sixth NCAA Tournament bid, and their third straight.

After a tight game for the first six and a half minutes, Framingham took a 15-14 lead. A layup from the Owls’ Lucy Barrett, and back to back three-pointers from McCarthy and Barrett stretched the Westfield lead out to seven points

After an intense first half the Owls took a 47-39 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Westfield began to stretch their lead late at the end of the third quarter when they went on a 16-6 run started by a three pointer from freshman Taina Slaughter (Springfield, Mass./Chicopee High) and was finished by a three pointer from freshman Melissa Gray (Peabody, Mass) to take a 70-52 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Owls bench went on to outscore Framingham’s bench by a score of 54-1. 

Junior Lucy Barrett (Williamstown, Mass) scored 15 points and added four steals. Junior Allison Hester (Sutton, Mass) contributed 10 points and Keri Paton (Russell, Mass, Westfield High) also ended up in double figures with 13 points and four rebounds. Melissa Gray scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds to help push the Owls past the Rams.

Framingham State University relied heavily on their starters who scored 74 of their 75 points led by sophomore Mary Kate O’Day’s (Berlin, Mass, Tahanto Regional) 20 points. Senior Raegan Mulherin (Baldwinville, Mass, Narragansett Regional) added 19 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Emily Velozo (Tewksbury, Mass) also contributed with 19 points and seven rebounds.

Westfield improves to 19-7 on the year before heading into the tournament.

Framingham ends their season with a 16-10 record.

Release courtesy of Westfield State Sports Information