Golden Bears Hold On to Big Lead for a 59-55 Victory against Framingham State

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Chelsea Vujs recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Katie Eckert and Nicole Daly each had 13 points to lead all scorers, as the Western New England women's basketball team built a large lead and then had to withstand a furious Framingham State rally to hold off the visiting Rams, 59-55, in a non-conference contest at the Alumni Healthful Living Center field house on Saturday. Both teams now stand at 3-2 on the season.

Kristen Hoffman was the only Framingham player in double figures with 10 points.

After a Hoffman lay-in to open the scoring for both teams, WNE took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Eckert on the next possession. That trey ignited a 19-8 run as the Golden Bears raced to a 22-10 lead midway through the first half.

The Western New England defense continued to force the Rams into taking bad shots en route to another large spurt, 16-7, to take a commanding 38-17 lead at halftime. The Golden Bears made 15 of 31 field goals for a .484 percentage while the Rams converted just 5 of 29 attempts for .172.

Framingham, however, didn't roll over and gave WNE a scare with a second-half comeback that fell just shy. The Rams had trailed by 26 points at 45-19 with 18:12 left to play, but eventually whittled the deficit to 57-55 on a Nicole Bostic (8 points, 6 rebounds) lay-in with 25 seconds on the clock.

On the next possession, Daly was fouled with 13 seconds left and calmly sank two free throws to account for the final margin.

Katelyn Iafolla, who scored six of her seven points off the bench during the Rams' 36-12 run to get back into the contest, missed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left that would have cut into WNE's lead to within one possession.

Western New England also enjoyed a big advantage on the boards at 48-35.

Before the Thanksgiving break, WNE will travel to Newton for a non-conference game at Lasell at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.