By Adam Levine
Sports Editor
By Riley Crowell
Staff Writer
The No. 2 seed Framingham State Rams lost to the No. 3 seed Westfield State Owls by a score of 90-76 Feb. 24 at Logan Gymnasium in the MASCAC tournament semi-final round.
Each team had four players score in the double-digits. The Owls’ bench outscored the Rams’ bench 49-4, which ultimately secured them the victory.
Framingham’s Flannery O’Connor scored a game-high 18 points and shot 6-6 from the free throw line.
Westfield scored two baskets to open the game and took a quick 4-0 lead.
The Owls and Rams traded baskets for the first quarter and the score was tied twice and four lead changes occurred.
Westfield led 12-9 to close out the first quarter.
Framingham’s Kelsey Yelle scored the opening 7 points for the Rams with three layups and a free throw.
Westfield and Framingham continued to trade baskets in the opening 5 minutes of the second quarter.
With 5:28 remaining, the Owls led by a score of 21-17.
Over the next 4 minutes, Framingham outscored Westfield 16-4 and built an 8-point lead.
Framingham’s scoring was split between five different players.
Westfield responded by outscoring Framingham 10-1 to close out the final minute of the half.
Westfield regained their lead and the score was 35-34 at halftime.
Framingham began the second half with a 7-0 scoring run in less than 2 minutes.
The Rams led by a score of 41-35.
Westfield answered with a 9-0 scoring run over the next 2 minutes and led by a score of 44-41.
The Rams kept the game close, but were steadily outscored by the Owls.
With 2:25 remaining in the third quarter, Westfield led by a score of 57-51.
The Owls outscored the Rams 9-4 to close out the third quarter, which increased their lead to 11 points.
Framingham outscored Westfield 7-2 in the opening 2 minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Rams trailed by only 6 points.
Westfield did not break away on any scoring runs, but consistently outscored the Rams over the next 4 minutes.
The Owls increased their lead to 12 points and led by a score of 80-68.
Framingham responded by outscoring Westfield 8-2, bringing the score within 6 points.
Westfield secured their lead with an 8-0 scoring run to close the game.
The Owls won by a score of 90-76 and knocked Framingham out of the MASCAC post-season tournament.
Framingham’s O’Connor and teammates Gwendolyn Carpenter and Katty Haidul each played for the entire fourth quarter and combined to score 17 of the Rams’ 21 points of the quarter.
Framingham’s Katie Haselton said, “The fans were electric on Friday night. We wish we could have had a different end result.
“This loss and end to the season is going to be used as fuel and motivation to get back to the finals,” she added.
Haidul said, “It should be exciting to see the improvement of everyone over the course of the off-season.”