By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team experienced a day to remember on Saturday at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears' afternoon at the Tinsley Center included an impressive victory over a nationally ranked opponent while the program's all-time career scoring record was broken by senior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.).
BSU handed the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth its first loss, 99-85, overcoming a 14-point first-half deficit and scoring 36 points in the fourth quarter to improve to 7-1.
And Grassi scored 30 points, putting her atop the Bears' career scoring list with 1,367 points.
Grassi, who began the day needing 29 points, surpassed BSU Athletics Hall of Famer Jenna Williamson, who scored 1,365 points before her career ended in 2014.
The record was broken with eight seconds remaining when Grassi hit the first of two foul shots to help seal the win.
It was quite a day for the Bears, who are riding a seven-game winning streak after dropping the season opener at Division 1 Bryant University.
BSU is off to its best start since going 9-0 in the 2010-11 season.
UMass Dartmouth (6-1) is ranked 13th in the D3hoops.com national poll and 19th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division 3 poll.
"Going into this game, I had such a good feeling," said Grassi, a two-time Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year. "We had two practices leading up to this and the energy felt more upbeat, felt like everyone was working so well together.
"I went to bed last night saying I have such a good feeling about today."
The Bears stopped the Corsairs despite missing 26 of 55 shots from the foul line, but an improved defensive performance in the second half keyed the BSU win.
Grassi made 8 of 18 shots and was 13 of 21 at the line for her 30 points, the second time she's had at least 30 this season. The captain added nine rebounds, five steals and three assists while playing 38 minutes.
Graduate student Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.) had 18 points with seven assists, five rebounds and three steals in 39 minutes while senior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) also scored 18 points with four rebounds and three steals.
Freshman Lexi Thompson (New Bedford, Mass.) added nine points and three assists off the bench while fellow reserves Mairead Gallagher (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) scored eight points each.
UMass Dartmouth was led by Kaylin Zalewski (Johnston, R.I.) with 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting while Teja Andrews (Plymouth, Mass.) added 21 points and 10 rebounds. Amaris Mills (Boston, Mass.) scored 15 points with seven rebounds.
BSU trailed by as many as 14 points in the second quarter but pulled within 51-44 at halftime and was down, 64-63, going into the final 10 minutes after limiting the Corsairs to 13 third-quarter points.
The Bears outscored UMass Dartmouth, 36-21, in the fourth quarter and took the lead for good on a Grassi layup, which made it 65-64, just 39 seconds into the final quarter.
As BSU started increasing the lead, the bid by Grassi to break the record became more realistic down the stretch. She had 14 points at halftime and five in the third quarter before scoring 11 in the fourth quarter to go past Williamson.
"I honestly did not think I was going to get it today," said Grassi. "In a game like this, it's crazy because just to beat this team, a nationally ranked team, is such a good feeling.
"It's definitely a big relief. I had people in my ear (this season) telling me how many away I was. Sometimes it's hard not thinking about the numbers when I just wanted to go play basketball. Now, no more thinking about it."
Said coach Bridgett Casey, "To break the record, she beat a great, phenomenal player in Jenna Williamson. To do that and the way she carries herself and helping this team is pretty special. I"m super happy for her."
BSU held a 7-2 lead to start the game, but the Corsairs went in front for the first time at 15-13 and led, 26-20, after one quarter.
UMass Dartmouth had a 49-35 lead with 3:41 to go in the half only to have BSU close on a 9-2 run to cut the margin in half.
BSU regained the lead at 54-53 on a 3-pointer by junior Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, N.Y.) with 7:07 left in the third quarter, and the Corsairs' biggest lead after that was by four points.
It was the Bears' defense that stymied the Corsairs in the fourth quarter.
"Our defense is going to win us games," said Casey. "Clearly it did today. Missing 26 free throws, our defense was so spot on to overcome that.
"Hats off to them. Super proud of them. When they trust our defense and what we're trying to teach team, good things can happen."
BSU finishes the first semester portion of the schedule by hosting Brandeis University on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Casey will be attempting to earn the 400th win of her career. Only two other Bridgewater State coaches, Rick Smith in baseball and Joe Farroba in men's basketball, have reached that number.