WORCESTER -- Tournament MVP Alex Scariati (Scotch Plains, NJ) stuffed with stat sheet with nine points, six assists and five rebounds as the WPI women's basketball team kept their winning ways going, capturing the Worcester City Tournament title for the seventh consecutive occasion on Saturday with a 57-34 victory over Worcester State at the Kneller Athletic Center on the campus of Clark.
It marked the 12th championship for the Crimson and Gray in the event that was contested this weekend for the 40th time. WPI has now won nine of the last 11 titles.
Gigi LeMay (Grafton, Mass.) and Sarah Blomgren (Lunenberg, Mass.) were named to the All-Tournament Team for Worcester State. LeMay had a double-double with 26 points and 16 rebounds in Worcester's victory over Clark on Friday afternoon. Blomgren averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds over the weekend.
All-Tournament team selection Emily Raynowska (Brentwood, NH) led the way among all scorers finishing with 13 points while also adding six rebounds and an assist in the game for WPI.
Worcester State (1-1) had a pair of double-digit scorers in Erin Gallella (Tewksbury, MA) and Blomgren. Gallella finished with a team-high 11 points, four assists and four steals while Blomgren chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
The Engineers' (2-0) starters combined for 39 of the team's 57 points on the afternoon as Victoria Mirecki (Washingtonville, NY) put up eight points, four rebounds and three assists, Melanie Presseau (Manchester, NH) added seven rebounds a pair of assists and two steals and Jordan Wynn (Groton, MA) took down 11 boards.
WPI started the game off on an 8-0 run thanks to back-to-back treys from Scariati. The Engineers would eventually build up a 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 15-0 run that spanned two quarters and over 10 minutes of action. Worcester State cut into the WPI lead slightly before halftime after a Gallella layup to make it a 34-14 game at the half.
The two teams each netted 10 points in the third quarter of action with four different players combining for those 10 points on the Worcester State side of things and five different players tallying at least one point for WPI.
In the fourth quarter, Kara ONeil (Holden, MA) netted five of WPI's 13 points with a pair of layups and a free throw off the bench for the Engineers.
The Engineers finished with a 41.5 field goal percentage, tallying 14 assists on 22 buckets in the game while holding Worcester State to a 24.6 field goal percentage in the contest. WPI dominated in the paint, netting 32 of its 57 points in the key while the WPI bench contributed 18 points while the Worcester State bench added nine.
WPI will be back in action against Western New England next Saturday, Nov. 13 at 12pm. Worcester State will be back at it on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at home against Nichols at 7pm.