Danielle Achin
Sports Editor
The Framingham State women’s basketball team opened their season with a home court victory over Wellesley College Nov. 9.
The Rams opened the first quarter with a 7-0 run capped off with a Flannery O’Connor layup before Wellesley made it on the board for the 7-2 score.
Wellesley managed to score another five points to the board, but Framingham remained at the advantage heading into the second quarter with the 11-7 lead.
Nearly three minutes into the second quarter, the Blue closed the gap to two points with a jump shot made by Wellesley’s Jiyun Chae - the only points Wellesley would make for the rest of the quarter.
Framingham controlled the paint with a 23-0 run and kept Wellesley off the scoreboard until the 8:59 mark in the third frame for a score of 34-11.
The score quickly jumped to 45-13 with combined points from Rams’ O’Connor, Haidul, Fernandez, and Gwendolyn Carpenter.
With two seconds remaining in the third quarter, Rams freshman Gabriela Redford increased the score to 52 with a two-point buzzerbeater jump shot and kept the Blue at 13 points heading into the final quarter of the game.
Less than a minute into the final frame, the Rams continued to build the lead when Carpenter opened with a three-point jump shot.
With just over four minutes left in the game, the Rams had accumulated 59 points on the board while Wellesley managed to score 24 points.
Wellesley scored the final points of the frame with a two-point jump shot from Arla Hofer for the 63-30 final score.
The Rams were led by O'Connor, who was the game-leading scorer of the night with 25 points, followed by Haidul, who scored 17 points.
Redford also chipped in six points of her own, averaging a shooting percentage of 50% for her first game.
With the win, Haidul commented on the team's success after their first game of the season.
“We get along with each other and it really shows on the court,” she said. “I thought, especially defensively, we were very strong and our offense is going to come together a lot more throughout the season, but I still think we did phenomenally.”
Redford said the team has great chemistry with one another and it really benefits the strong playing dynamic they already have on the court.
She said, “Everyone is really close, so it works really well. We always work 100% in practice, so it definitely plays out in our games.”
The Rams will return to the court next week when they travel to Eastern Nazarene for non-conference action Nov. 15.