Worcester, MA --- Senior Meghan O'Keefe (Warren, MA) registered her fourth double-double in the last five games as she scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to help propel Worcester State to a thrilling 58-55 triumph over Fitchburg State in MASCAC women's basketball action this evening at Lancer Gym.
 
The Lancers improve to 11-12 overall and 5-5 in the conference while the Falcons slip to 15-6 with a 3-6 record in league play.
 
Sophomore Megan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) added 17 points, five caroms and four assists for the Lancers as freshman Kelli McPherson (Mansfield, MA) added a season-best 13 points connecting on three treys.  Senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) logged eight points while dishing out three assists and swiping four balls.
 
The Falcons were paced by sophomore Amy Fahey (Wilmington, MA) who scored 27 points and grabbed nine boards. Senior Rebecca Goreham (Quincy, MA) hauled in a game-high 19 rebounds and added four points as she has had double-digit rebounds in 16 of her 19 games this season.
 
Sophomore classmates Meaghan Secino (Leominster, MA) and Laura Cote (Ashby, MA) each tallied six points apiece.
 
FSU opened up the game strong by going by doubling up the hosts and grabbing the 14-7 lead with 13:58 on the clock.  Fahey scored nine of her 13 points in the opening stanza during the run.
 
Fitchburg State pushed their edge to 24-15 with 7:24 left before the two teams would battle back-and-forth for the nearly 5½ minutes and not score a point.  The drought ended at the 2:42 mark as Charette connected on a free throw cutting the deficit to eight.
 
The Lancers were able to trim the Falcons lead down to six over the final minutes of the half and trail 26-20 at intermission on two points in the paint by Burns.
 
Fitchburg State began the second half the same way the started out the first stanza as they would open with a 12-7 surge to take over a 38-27 advantage with 14:55 left in the period. It was at this point that the Lancers began to battle from behind as they would embark on a 17-6 rally over the next eight minutes to tie the score at 44-44 on the back of a Burns fast-break layup. 
 
The crowd of over 350 would then settle in for a scoring scuffle between the two squads as there where two ties and three lead changes over the final 7:31 of play. 
 
The Lancers grabbed their first advantage of the game on a layup by McPherson at the 7:02 mark, but FSU countered on the next possession as Fahey sank one of her free throw attempts and Goreham added the exclamation point by putting back the missed conversion giving the 47-46 edge back to the visitors. 
 
Fitchburg State pushed their lead to three points on a trio of different occasions over the next four minutes as they held a slim 53-50 margin with 2:57 left in the second stanza on the back of a Fahey field goal. The Blue and Gold were able to tie the game at 53-53 as O'Keefe connected on two points from the charity stripe with 2:43 left. 
 
Both teams then traded buckets to keep the score knotted at 55-55 with 1:45 on the clock, but two costly turnovers ended the night for the Falcons.
 
Charette caused the first miscue with 45 ticks on the clock and the Lancers shaved seconds off the timer as O'Keefe hit a lay-up as the shot-clock horn sounded to give the Lancers the slim 57-55 advantage with 15.0 left. 
 
The Falcons coughed up the ball with seven seconds remaining and fouled Charette who added one more from the free-throw line for the final points of the game. Fitchburg State would miss an open look to equal the score when the final buzzer hit triple-zero.
 
Both teams struggled to connect on shots from the field as Worcester State made 32 percent (21-for-65) and the Falcons connected on 30 percent (16-for-52). 
 
However, the two squads shot well from the charity stripe as the Lancers made 72 percent (13-for-18) while Fitchburg State converted 80 percent (20-for-25). Overall, they would also distribute the ball well as WSU made 21 field goals on 16 assists and the visitors used12 helpers to score 16 baskets.
 
The Blue and Gold held advantages in points in the paint (26-18), points off of turnovers and steals (14-9) as FSU held led in rebounds (47-38), offensive caroms (9-8) and fast-break points (14-9).
 
Charette is now just 11 points away from ninth-place on the all-time scoring list with has 1,134 points.
 
The two teams will continue MASCAC play as they head out on the road on Saturday.  Worcester State will travel to Bridgewater State for a 3:30 PM tip-off and Fitchburg State play Salem State at 1 PM.
 
Release By Jim Sarkisian – Sports Information Assistant