Salem State College Athletics

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Third seeded Worcester State College pulled off the second upset of the evening as the Lancers downed number two seed Salem State College, 64-62, in the semifinal round of the 2010 MASCAC Women’s Basketball Tournament held this evening at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.

Worcester (15-12) advances to the MASCAC Championship game for the first time since 2007. The Lancers will take on fourth-seeded MCLA in the title game tomorrow at 4 PM. MCLA knocked off top seed Bridgewater State College, 61-53, in the other semifinal matchup. Salem State falls to 18-8 on the season.

Worcester was led by senior forward Reilly O’Keefe (Warren, MA) who notched a game-high 18 points as she was 8-for-9 at the free throw line and 5of 9 from the floor. Senior forward Bri Flanders (Southampton, MA) added nine points and a career-high 19 rebounds for the Lancers. Sophomore guard Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) chipped in with 13 points, three rounds, three assists and two steals, while junior guard Alexis George (Worcester, MA) was also in double-figures with12 points.

Freshman center Brianna Wilson (Lowell, MA) paced the Lady Vikings with 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Freshman guards Erica Batchelder (Stoughton, MA) and Margaret Wallace (Lowell, MA) also finished in double-figures with 14 and ten points respectively.

The opening stanza would see five ties and four lead changes as Salem State held the largest lead twice at the 15 minute mark (10-5) and with 3:48 left in the period (23-18). Jenkins would convert a lay-up in the closing seconds of the half for the 25-23 edge at the intermission.

Worcester State opened the second frame with a 10-2 run as they took a 35-27 advantage at the 16:42 mark. Batchelder drained a trey to make it a five point game, 30 seconds later, but that was as close as they would get for the next seven minutes as the Lancers maintain more than a six point cushion through that stretch.

With WSC ahead 44-35 at 11:06, the Vikings used a 7-2 surge to trail by just four points (46-42), but O’Keefe nailed a jumper to end the rally with 7:58 left.

Worcester State continued to preserve their advantage as SSC stayed in hot pursuit over the next five minutes as the Vikings got no closer than four points.

It was at the 2:35 mark that the Vikings made their push as they swiped an inbounds pass to pull to within two points to make the score 54-52, but the Lancers scored four consecutive points – which included a three-point play by Charette – to go back up by six (58-52) with 1:27 remaining.

Worcester State led 60-54 before Stokes knocked down a pair of free throws followed by Wallace making one of two from the charity stripe after a turnover. Charette converted two free throws which was answered by a driving lay-up by Wallace with 29 seconds remaining.

Salem State was forced to foul and O’Keefe canned a pair of free throws to put the Lancers back up by five (64-59). Batchelder, however, was fouled trying to make a three-pointer in desperation and she consequently knocked down all three of her free throw attempts to make it a one-possession game at 64-62 with 10 seconds left.

The Vikings forced a miscue on the inbounds pass and called a timeout with four seconds left, but a short baseline jumper by Wilson was blocked by freshman forward Meaghan O’Keefe (Warren, MA) as time expired.