WORCESTER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State senior Michaela Cosby (Walpole, MA) and junior Meghan Boutilette (Charlton, MA) registered squad-highs of 14 points each to help lead a balanced scoring effort for the Bears in a 65-51 victory over Worcester State in MASCAC women's basketball action this evening at the Lancer Gymnasium.
The Bears, who are ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Division III New England Regional Poll and receiving votes in both Top 25 polls, run their overall record to 20-3 and 10-1 in the MASCAC.
They claimed their sixth conference regular season crown and the top seed in next week's league tournament. It marks the third time during the Bridgett Casey era that the Bears have posted a 20-win season.
With the setback, the Lancers record falls to 12-12 overall and 8-3 in the MASCAC as they are now tied with Westfield State for second-place.
Junior classmates Colleen Hanscom (Melrose, MA) and Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, MA) netted 13 points each and pulled down five and six rebounds for the Bears, respectively. Cosby and Boutilette also combined for eight swipes in the victory for the Crimson and White.
Worcester State was paced by junior Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) who turned in an all-around great performance racking up contest-bests in points (19), steals (5), and assists (4).
Senior Meaghan O'Keefe (Warren, MA) recorded 12 points and eight caroms while sophomore Alyssa Jasper (Rockland, MA) corralled a game-best 12 boards in the losing effort.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair with six ties and two lead changes in the first half as neither team held more than a five point edge, but the Bears went into the locker room with the 32-27 edge at the break.
To start off the second stanza senior Elisha Homich (Ludlow, MA) dialed one from long range to help give the Bears the eight point margin (35-27), but the Lancers utilized a 12-2 spurt to trail 37-35 with 13:18 remaining.
After a pair of points from the free-throw line by Homich to make the score 39-35, the Blue and Gold got to within four three more times in the next 8½ minutes of game play, but the Bears maintained their distance.
O'Keefe helped cut the deficit to four with 4:22 remaining on a traditional three-point play and senior Kara Rogers (Lowell, MA) sank a pair at the charity stripe to make the score 51-47 nearly two minutes later.
However, Bridgewater State embarked on a 14-4 run to close out the game sparked by an eight point effort from Hanscom which included a pair of old fashioned three-point buckets.
The hosts finished with a 40 percent shooting percentage from the floor for the contest (21-for-52), but struggled from the line (20-for-29 – 69 percent). Worcester State also had a modest clip with a final tally of 41 percent (19-for-49) and only drained one of their 11 attempts from downtown.
Bridgewater State played stingy defense all night and used 23 steals to cause 35 errors which led to a 35-17 edge in points off turnovers.
The Bears also led in second chance buckets (9-2) while Worcester State held the slight margin in fast break points (10-8) and bench scoring (15-2).
O'Keefe and Rogers were honored on "Senior Day" in a brief pre-game ceremony for playing in their final regular season home contest. Recent graduate Kaleigh Charette was also presented with an official ball for finishing her career eighth on WSU's All-Time Scoring list with 1,152 points.
At the intermission, two-time All-American and Lancer Hall of Famer Cathy (Westall) Kusmeskus was invited to throw up the "Last Shot" in the Lancer Gym.
Cosby, who entered the game with 1,000 points in her career, leap-frogged three former Bears to move into 12th on BSU's All-Time scoring list.
The MASCAC regular season championship for Bridgewater State is the fourth time under Casey that the Crimson and White have won a regular season title (2007-08, 09-10, 11-12). Their other's came during the 1984-85 and 85-86 seasons under Bo Ruggerio.
Both squads close out regular season play on Saturday as Worcester State travels to Salem State for a 3:30 PM contest and BSU heads to MCLA with tip-off scheduled for 1 PM.