BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Sophomore forward Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) scored a career-high 27 points and senior guard Sydney Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied 20 points to lead the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team to a 95-91 victory over UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears improve to 6-1 on the season while the visiting Corsairs fall to 3-4. The win marked Bridgewater State's first over the Corsairs since December of 2014 as UMass had won each of the last six meetings of the two teams.

Grassi connected on 7 of 12 field goal attempts, including 2-for-2 from behind the arc, and went 11-for-12 at the free throw line. She added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Bradbury was 7-for-15 from the floor, knocked down 5 of 6 free throw attempts and added three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Junior guard Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.) contributed 15 points for the Bears on 6 of 9 shooting to go along with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots in 27 minutes off the bench. Bridgewater State also received 12 points and five rebounds from sophomore forward Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) as well as 11 points, three assists, a steal and a block from senior guard Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.).

The Bears overcame an impressive performance by UMD graduate guard Jordan Moretti (Johnston, R.I.). Moretti recorded her first collegiate triple double as she poured in a game-high 30 points, pulled downed a game-best 13 rebounds (three offensive) and dished out a game-high 12 assists. Moretti connected on 12 of 20 field goals including 5-for-9 from behind the arc.

Junior guard Teja Andrews (Plymouth, Mass.) checked in with 21 points, five assists, two steals and a block for the Corsairs, while graduate guard Jessica Carroll (Deep River, Conn.) notched 14 points and a pair of steals.

The Corsairs used a 13-0 first quarter run, highlighted by a pair of Jemima Joseph (Jr., Somerville, Mass.) layups and a Moretti three-pointer, to open up an 18-7 lead. Trailing 20-9 late in the period, the Bears scored seven unanswered point capped off by a Kayla Thomas (Jr., North Falmouth, Mass.) trifecta to cut the deficit to four (20-16) at the end of one.

Bridgewater carried the momentum into the second quarter scoring the first five points on a Cleveland layup, a free throw from Bradbury and two from the charity stripe by Piche, to jump ahead, 21-20. Later in the period, the Bears used a 9-2 run with Piche accounting for five of the nine points on a pair of layups and a free throw to open up an eight-point lead, 36-28, with 4:37 remaining until halftime. Bridgewater would ultimately take a 46-43 advantage into the break.

Moretti scored 14 points in the first half while Carroll tallied ten. Bradbury scored 11 of her 20 points over the first 20 minutes and Grassi notched ten.

The third quarter featured four ties and two lead changes with the hosts clinging to a one-point lead (68-67) heading into the final period. After Grassi converted a traditional three-point play to open the fourth quarter scoring, Moretti dropped in a layup and junior guard Jaelyn Lavigne (Litchfield, N.H.) drained a three-pointer to give the Corsairs their final lead of the game, 72-71. Cleveland answered with a layup at the other end of the floor as the Bears quickly jumped back in front as the clocked ticked under seven minutes.

A key turning point came with 6:01 remaining as Bridgewater capitalized on a UMD foul and subsequent technical foul. The Bears converted 3 of 4 free throws and Cleveland connected on a layup to turn a one-point game into an 80-74 BSU advantage. Following back-to-back buckets by Andrews and DeMeo, Tripp converted a pair of three-point plays to extend the BSU advantage to 86-78 with 3:21 remaining.

The Corsairs responded with seven straight points, including five from Andrews, to pull to within one, 86-85, but Bradbury drew a foul while attempting a three-pointer and converted all three free throws to make it a four-point game (89-85) with just over a minute left to play. Four free throws from Grassi sandwiched around an Andrews' layup gave the Bears a 93-87 lead with 34 seconds showing on the scoreboard.

Moretti's hustle kept the UMD hopes alive as she dropped in two layups after corralling a pair of offensive rebounds to make it a three-point game, 94-91, with just 15 seconds remaining. The Corsairs then forced a turnover and looked as though they would at least cut the deficit to one, but a charging call erased a made layup. Piche then made 1 of 2 at the line to seal the BSU victory.

Bridgewater shot 47.8% (32-67) for the game, including 6-for-16 (37.5%) from three-point range, and went 25-for-31 (80.6%) at the free throw line. The Bears attempted 21 more free throws than the Corsairs (UMass was whistled for 32 fouls) and the BSU defense forced 25 turnovers which led to a 35-21 advantage in points off turnovers.

UMD shot 56.1% (37-66) from the floor, 41.7% (10-24) from behind the arc and finished 7-for-10 (70%) at the line. The Corsairs held a decided 41-27 rebounding advantage with an 11-8 edge off the offensive glass. UMass held the edge in second chance points (14-7) and points in the paint (50-40).

The Bears will travel to Williamstown, Massachusetts on Friday night to take on nationally ranked #25 Babson College at eight o'clock in the semifinals of the Shooting Touch Tournament hosted by Williams College. The Corsairs are off until Wednesday, December 7th (5:30 PM) when they open Little East Conference (LEC) play at home against Eastern Connecticut State University.

Notes: The 95 points marked a season-high for the Bears...The last time the Bears played in a regulation game in which both teams scored at least 90 points was January 18, 2020 at the Tinsley Center (a 111-108 setback to Westfield State).