Keating Tabbed MVP as WPI Brings Home Sixth Consecutive City Title

WORCESTER -- Senior Alana Keating (Leominster, MA) was named MVP as WPI knocked off host Worcester State 45-41 to capture the 39th annual Worcester City Women's Basketball Tournament on Sunday evening.  

The title was the sixth straight for the Engineers, eighth in the last 10 years and 11th overall.    

WPI is 2-0 on the young season while the Lancers slip to 1-1.  Clark was victorious in Sunday's consolation game, edging Becker 69-68. 

In a game highlighted by defense, it was the Engineer offense that took center stage late in the first half.  Sara Lyons (Pittsford, NY), Alex Scariati (Scotch Plains, NJ) and Lisa Cristiano (Valhalla, NY) registered layups on consecutive possessions to spearhead a 6-0 spurt they helped send the visitors into the locker room at the break with a 30-25 lead.   

WPI outscored the Lancers 13-8 in the third quarter to push the advantage to 10 points and then turned to its defense to limit the hosts to 3-of-14 shooting from the floor and forcing six turnovers in the fourth quarter to secure the victory. 

Spencer Vinson (Los Angeles, CA) was the Engineers leading scorer with nine points while Maddie Blake (Bedford, NH) netted seven and Keating and Melanie Presseau (Manchester, NH) tallied five apiece.  Lyons, who joined Keating on the All-Tournament team, shared game-high rebounding honors with eight and Keating doled out a game-best three assists.  

Mya Mosley (Worcester, MA) led the Lancer scorers with 18 points and Erin Gallella (Tewksbury, MA) chipped in with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. 

WPI is off until Saturday when they travel to Emerson for a 3pm non-conference match-up versus the Lions.  Worcester State heads out to Western Mass Tuesday to face Mount Holyoke at 7pm.