Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Dec. 3) – The Nichols College women's basketball team battled past visiting Westfield State for its second-straight overtime win, a 59-56 non-conference victory. Junior forward/guard Michele Guerin (Chicopee, Mass.) scored five points in the extra session to help the Bison to their third consecutive win and a 4-2 record. Westfield State dips to 4-3 on the year.
Junior forward Jessica Nelson (No. Providence, R.I.) led all scorers with 24 points on 80% shooting (12-for-15) and paced Nichols with a team-high eight rebounds. Junior guard Ashley Robidoux (Milford, Mass.) added 11 points, and senior guard Lyndsey Bennett (North Brookfield, Mass.) added 10. Sophomore forward Chelsea Shaughnessy (Halifax, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with five steals, four blocks, three assists and four rebounds to go with four points, two of which came in overtime.
For Westfield, junior forward Christal Bello finished just shy of a double-double with a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Ashley Finnegan added 16 points and eight boards, while Cassy Jouannet rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points to go with six caroms.
The teams traded early baskets in the extra session before Guerin hit her first of two to follow a hoop down low from Shaughnessy. Bello cut the Bison's lead to two at 56-54, and then Nichols missed on a three-point attempt.
A steal by Robidoux on the ensuing Owls' possession set up Guerin for a layup and a four-point Bison lead, 58-54. Bello grabbed an offensive rebound on an errant three-point attempt by the Owls and put up her own shot down low, but Shaughnessy was there for one of her game-high four blocks. The ball careened out of bounds, and Finnegan sank it off the inbounds play by Sarah Boudreau with three seconds left to cut Nichols' lead to 58-56. A quick foul with one second left sent Guerin to the line where she hit the first for a three-point lead and then intentionally missed the second to keep the game in check.
Nichols led by as many as eight points in the opening half, but neither team could find its rhythm with a combined 28 turnovers and 17 fouls. Westfield chipped away at the Bison's eight-point advantage late in the first, but managed to get only as close as four on a pair of free throws from Bello with 1:24 left before Nichols edged back ahead.
With a 31-26 advantage to start the second half, Nichols strode ahead to a nine-point lead with 5:56 left on a Nelson layup, but saw it vanish over the next four minutes on an 11-2 Westfield run. Finnegan and Jouannet combined for nine points in the span. Neither team could capitalize in the final minute and a half as turnovers plagued both squads.
The teams combined for 51 turnovers in the game, with Nichols converting the Owls' 25 into 21 points, and Westfield parlaying the Bison's 26 into 17 points. Despite the low-scoring game, Nichols shot 45.3% from the field and Westfield fired 36.9%. Neither team managed much at the free-throw line, with both squads shooting well below 50%.
Nichols is back in action on December 9th in a 7 p.m. game at Elms College. Westfield State hosts Elms Saturday at 1 p.m.
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