Junior center Gabby Felix posted game highs of 17 points and 12 rebounds. (File photo by Mickey Curtis)
NEWTON – Juniors Gabby Felix (games highs 17 points, 12 rebounds) and Jen Ashton (13 points, 4 assists, game high 6 steals), and sophomore Keri Doldoorian (15 points, game high 6 assists) led Westfield State University to a 66-53 victory over Lasell College on Thursday, Dec. 5.
The loss dropped the Lasers to 3-5 on the season, while Westfield State improved to 3-3.
Junior forward Alexis Chappell of Springfield, Mass., led the Lasers, scoring a team-high 15 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. Sophomore Katie Stopera finished with 13 points and six rebounds and classmate Molly Lauver chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Felix took charge for the Owls with her double-double of 17 points and 12 boards; she was 8 for 13 from the field in 32 minutes of play. Ashton was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw stripe and Doldoorian was 3 for 5 from 3-point range, including two clutch treys in the game’s final minutes when Lasell closed to within two points.
The first half was back and forth after the Owls jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening two minutes. Lasell responded with a 12-4 run helped by a trio of layups from Chappell to take the lead 12-9 midway through the first half.
Both teams struggled to find the range in the first half, and Lasell claimed a 20-18 lead with 4:41 remaining on a jumper and a pair of free throws from Stopera. A Felix jumper followed by a Doldoorian layup with just over a minute remaining gave Westfield a 23-20 lead at the break.
Westfield State pushed its lead to seven points in the opening minutes of the second half, before a Stopera 3-pointer and Sherilyn Small layup pulled the Lasers within three points of the visitors at 36-33 with 12:08 left. Westfield then hit three of its next four shots to take a 44-35 lead with seven minutes to go.
The Lasers rallied back to within two points, courtesy of Chappell and Stopera with four and three points, respectively, to make the score to 49-47 with three minutes remaining. This is as close as the Lasers would get as Westfield used a pair of 3-pointers from Doldoorian to push its lead to 57-47 with 1:26 remaining. The Owls closed out the 66-53 victory at the line.
The Lasers return to the court on Tuesday with a 6:00 p.m. home game against Eastern Nazarene College, while Westfield State travels to Smith College for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against the Pioneers.
