Jill Valley tallied all 14 of her points in the first half. (File photo)
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Jill Valley (Orange Valley, Mass.) led 11 scorers with 14 points and Rebecca Sapouckey (Chicopee, Mass.) had nine points and 12 rebounds as the Westfield State women’s basketball team defeated the University of Saint Joseph 71-50 Friday night in a non-conference game at the O’Connell Center.
Westfield improved to 7-4 overall; USJ is 5-5.
Forbashaw Nkamebo (Amherwst, Mass.) had seven points and 10 rebounds for the Owls and Jen Ashton (Beverly, Mass.) had eight points, eight assists and five steals.
Carlee Putnam (Niantic, Conn.) led USJ with 16 points. Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Blue Jays and Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.) added eight points and five assists.
The game was close early and USJ took a 19-18 lead on a free throw from Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.) with 7:26 remaining in the half. But Valley scored nine points in a decisive run as Westfield closed with a 22-4 spurt over the final 6:39 to take control and a 40-23 halftime lead. Westfield would lead by as many as 27 in the second half.
Westfield outrebounded USJ 49-34, had more second-chance points (19-7), points off turnovers (27-8) and fast-break points (20-0).
Westfield is back in action on Monday, hosting Eastern Connecticut State at 5:30 p.m. at the Woodward Center in a non-conference game.
