Women's Basketball drops a tough one against Western Connecticut

Story Courtesy of Salem State Sports Information

Salem, MA – The Western Connecticut Colonials built an 18-point halftime lead and cruised to a 94-71 victory over the Rivier College Raiders in the second game of the Salem State Women's Tip-Off Tournament on Friday evening.

The Colonials broke open a close game with a 23-13 run over the final 10:42 of the first half. Caroline Brasa (East Hartford, CT) started the run with back-to-back three-pointers and six points by Amber Litwinko (Kensington, CT) spurred the Colonials to a 44-26 halftime lead.

Rivier closed the deficit to 16 points early in the second half, but a three-pointer by Brasa cooled a six-point Rivier College spurt and that is as close as the Raiders would get the rest of the game..

A bucket by Jackie Zilnicki (Riverhead, NY) pushed the lead to 78-54 with 7:42 remaining and the Colonials easily sailed to a 23-point win.

Litwinko led a balanced attack as she led five players in double figures. Litwinko scored 21 points, while Brasa, Zilnicki, and Stephanie Slonski (Griswold, CT) each contributed 12 points. Sciarra Brandt (Thomaston, CT), added 11 points and six boards.

Western Connecticut (2-0) dominated the boards, including grabbing 51 rebounds (22 offensive). Rivier College (1-1) was led by Deanna Purcell (Hudson, NH), who had 29 points on 13-of-18 shooting. Amanda Purcell (Hudson, NH) and Erin Sweeney (Chicopee, MA) played well in the loss scoring 11 and 10 points respectively.

Western Connecticut will face Salem State in the championship game at 3:00 PM tomorrow. Rivier College will face City College of New York at 1:00 PM in the consolation game.