Box Score Worcester, Mass. - December 11, 2015 - Led by 25 points and 11 rebounds from junior center Ava Adamopoulos (Ludlow, Mass.), the Springfield College women's basketball team came out victorious over Worcester State, 63-51, on Friday night in a game hosted by WPI.
With the win, Springfield has now picked up three-straight victories, and improves to 5-2 on the year, while Worcester State falls to 3-5 overall. The Pride, which shot a season-best 23-for-56 (41.1%) on the evening, was led by Adamopoulos, and sophomore forward Heather King (Lebanon, N.H.), who tallied a career-best 17 points, to go along with seven rebounds over 31 minutes of play.
Additionally, junior guard Danielle Racette (North Adams, Mass.) notched seven points, while Emily Gins (Fort Myers, Fla.) and Christa Brent (Wilmington, Mass.) scored five points apiece. Both Racette and Molly McCausland (Millbury, Mass.) led the team in assists with four apiece.
For the Lancers, which shot 19-for-52 (36.5%) on the night, Kaitlyn Berkel and Tanajia Smith each posted 11 points, while Berkel led with a team-best 11 rebounds.
The two sides battled back-and-forth to start the contest, until Adamopoulos came off the bench and made an immediate impact, converting back-to-back shots to give the Pride the 12-11 lead with 2:14 remaining in the first period. King upped Springfield's lead to 14-11 until Samm Toli (Taunton, Mass.) made a jumpshot for the Lancers to pull the hosts to within one. With one minute left in the first period, Springfield knocked down two shots for an 18-13 lead going into the second quarter.
The tempo was set by Springfield in the beginning of the second period, as Adamopoulos scored six unanswered points to increase the Pride's lead to 11. The Pride kept its lead throughout the entirety of the second period, as the teams went into the intermission with a score of 34-22 Springfield.
Worcester State came out firing in the second half, as the Lancers were able to make a jumper with 2:10 remaining in the third period to shorten the Pride's lead to six, and then Toli made a deep 3-pointer with 46 seconds left on the clock, pulling the Lancers to within three. Just before the end of the third, Smith made a free throw to make it a 42-40 game with the Pride on top.
Springfield came out strong in the fourth period, as the two-point deficit for the Lancers got out of reach on shots from Adamopoulos and a pair of good free throws from McCausland. With 3:19 left in the game, Worcester's Berkel made a layup to make it a five-point game, but good free throws from Springfield College resulted in a 63-51 score at the end of regulation.
Next up, Springfield College will travel to Suffolk on Monday (Dec. 14) before their winter break.
