Framingham, MA --- Framingham State senior Kristen Hoffman (Foxboro, MA) posted her third double-double of the season with 12 points, 11 boards and four assists as she helped propel the Rams to a 71-55 victory over Worcester State this afternoon in MASCAC women's basketball action.

With the win Framingham State improves to 15-10 (8-4 MASCAC) and clinches a share of its first-ever regular season title in a three-way tie. The Lancers fall to 9-16 and 5-7 in league play.

The two squads will face-off again in next week's MASCAC Tournament with the third-seeded Rams hosting the #6 Blue and Gold on Tuesday at 7 PM.

Junior Nicole Bostic (Easton, MA) was also solid for the hosts as she finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and four helpers while classmate Margo McCarthy (Southampton, MA) and freshman Sarah Palace (Auburn, MA) both registered 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The visitors were led by sophomore Julie Frankian (Millbury, MA) who had a game-best 18 points off a 7-for-13 night from the floor. Senior Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) chipped in with 12 points and seven boards in the setback for WSU.

With the Rams nursing the 17-13 edge early on in the contest, the hosts missed only three times over the next 5½ minutes and took over the commanding 33-15 margin with 7:31 left in the first period. In the 16-2 spurt, Bostic and McCarthy both combined for 10 points as both connected on three-pointers in the spurt.

The Lancers sliced into the deficit and made the score nine points on four occasions which included in the closing seconds of the stanza following two buckets at the line by sophomore Cheyenne Jennings (Worcester, MA/Wachusett).

However, Hoffman canned two points of her own from the charity stripe for the 43-32 Framingham State advantage at the break.

The Rams finished the first period sinking an astounding 63 percent of their attempts (19-for-30).

Worcester State started off the final period with an 8-4 surge to trail by seven with 15:45 (47-40), but that was the closest that the Lancers got the rest of the contest.

With the score 51-42 at the 11:18 mark, the Rams went into double-digits and never looked back, peaking at their largest margin for the final score.

The Lancers, nearly matched the Rams in the opening frame with a 42 percent line from the field (11-for-26), shot 28 percent in the second stanza (9-for-32) to finish 35 percent for the contest (20-for-58). The visitors took advantage of 14 miscues by their opponents with a 19-10 margin in points off turnovers.

Framingham State led in overall rebounding (41-34), baskets in the paint (40-14) and dominated bench scoring (29-8). The hosts made nearly half of their shots in the game (30-for-46 – 47 percent).