BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Graduate guard Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored a career-high 24 points including the game-winning free throws with 19.8 seconds left to play to lift the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team to a 63-61 victory over visiting WPI on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 6-1 on the season with their sixth straight win while the Engineers fall to 4-2.
BSU coach Bridgett Casey moved a step closer to the 400-win mark and is now 398-294 since taking the program reins in 1997.
Piche connected on 8 of 14 field goals and went 7-for-9 at the free throw line. She also added two rebounds, two assists, six steals and a pair of blocked shots.
The Bears also received 16 points and eight rebounds from senior forward Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass.) as well as 12 points and seven boards (three offensive) from senior forward Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.). Grassi now has 1,337 points in her career as she continues to close in on Jenna Williamson's (2010-14) all-time BSU scoring mark of 1,365 points.
Senior guard Caitlyn Dasaro (Fairfield, Vt.) paced WPI with 12 points and five rebounds (three offensive) while sophomore guard Emmy Allyn (Rutland, Mass.) chipped in with ten points and five boards and graduate forward Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, Conn.) added eight points and a game-best nine rebounds (three offensive).
The first half featured six ties and six lead changes. A halfcourt shot by Piche at the second quarter buzzer gave the Bears a 32-27 lead at the break. The five-point advantage also marked the largest lead of the first half for either squad.
Piche led all players with 14 points over the first 20 minutes.
A D'Amours layup midway through the third quarter gave the Bears a 41-36 lead. The Engineers, however, went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to pull ahead, 48-41. Davenport jumpstarted the spurt with a three-pointer while Allyn capped it off with a trifecta. WPI would take a 48-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
An Ava Giansiracusa (So, Wethersfield, Conn.) layup with 6:25 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game at nine points (56-47).
Bridgewater responded with a 12-0 run over the next two minutes to reclaim the lead, 59-56. Piche scored the first four points of run while Cleveland knocked down a three-pointer and added a traditional three-point play, and senior forward Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) capped it off with a layup off an offensive rebound.
The Engineers, however, scored five of the next six points and rallied to take a 61-60 lead on a Kelly layup with 25 seconds showing on the scoreboard.
Piche was then fouled going to the hoop with 19.8 seconds left to play and sank both free throws to put the Bears back on top, 62-61. WPI had a chance to win the game, but a swarming BSU defense forced two turnovers in the closing seconds and did not allow a shot attempt. Piche made 1 of 2 free throws with two seconds remaining to account for the final tally of 63-61.
Bridgewater shot 36.7% (22-60) for the game and went 6-for-13 (46.2%) from behind the arc and 13-for-20 (65%) at the free throw line. Cleveland knocked down three of the Bears' six trifectas.
The BSU defense forced 24 turnovers thanks in large part to 13 steals including six from Piche.
The Bears' five starters accounted for 61 of the 63 points. The WPI bench outscored the BSU reserves, 19-2.
WPI shot 41.9% (26-62) from the floor with a 6-for-22 (27.3%) clip from three-points range. The Engineers went just 3-for-8 at the charity stripe.
The two teams have met 19 times since 1982 but just three times in the 21st century. Last season, WPI posted a 70-52 win at the Harrington Auditorium in Worcester. The Engineers also earned a 69-57 victory in the semifinal round of the UNE Tip-Off Tournament in 2018. The Bears and the Engineers met 16 straight seasons from 1983 to 1999 with each team winning eight games.
Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon at two o'clock. The Bears host the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth while the Engineers travel to Salem State University to take on the Vikings.