Box ScoreWESTFIELD, Mass. – Senior guard Jen Ashton (Beverly/Beverly, Mass.) narrowly missed a triple-double as Westfield State engineered a 75-43 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Monday night at the Woodward Center in the Westfield State Holiday Tournament.
Westfield improves to 6-3 on the season and advances to tomorrow afternoon's 3 p.m. championship game against the winner of tonight's nightcap between Southern Maine – WPI. RPI falls to 3-5 on the season and will play in tomorrow's consolation final at 1:00 p.m.
Westfield State sprinted out of the blocks. After a game-opening three by the Engineers'
Ashley Clough (Keene/west Chesterfield, N.H.), Westfield embarked on a 17-0 run over the next seven minutes to seize control of the game. Ashton scored nine of her game-high 23 points in that seven minute stretch. She finished with 12 rebounds, eight steals, and did not commit a turnover in the game.
The Owls onslaught continued through the first half, building the lead to as many as 23 points, at 34-11 after an Ashton layup with 6:18 left in the half.
Westfield led 40-20 at halftime.
The Owls never let RPI back in the game in the second half. The Engineers got as close as 16, at 52-36 on a
Michelle Reid three pointer with 8:34 left in the contest, but Westfield responded with a 15-0 run that was fueled by nine points from Jill Valley (Mahar / Orange, Mass.) in the decisive stretch, capped by a Valley layup with 4:39 to play.
Valley finished with 15 points and four assists, and Forbasaw Nkamebo (Amherst/Amherst, Mass.) added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Gabby Felix (Commerce/Springfield, Mass.) was reinserted into the starting lineup less than a year off ACL surgery, and came up with eight points, six rebounds and three steals.
RPI was led by 21 points from Clough as the only Engineer in double figure scoring.
Bailei Tetrault (Cohoes/ Cohoes, N.Y.) and
Amanda Lynch (Burke Catholic/ Middletown, N.Y.) each added five points.
