Carlson’s Career-High 24 Points Pushes Women’s Basketball Past Westfield State, 86-68

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 2, 2020) – The Western New England University women's basketball team outscored Westfield State University by 17 points in the second quarter en route to a 86-68 victory over the Owls on Thursday night in non-conference action at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.

Top Performers
Senior forward Courtney Carlson (Woodbury, Conn.) led the Golden Bears with a career-high 24-point performance, which came on 11-17 shooting from the field. Carlson added six rebounds, three blocks, and three steals.

Seniors Meghan Orbann (East Hampton, Conn.) and Alyssa Stefanelli (Chicopee, Mass.) both had double-doubles on the evening. Orbann had 16 points with a career-high 17 rebounds. Stefanelli scored 11 points off the bench, adding a career-high 14 rebounds.

Pacing the Owls offense was senior guard Chelsea Moussette (Southampton, Mass.) with 13 points. Senior guard Alyssa Camara (Quincy, Mass.) contributed 11 points off the bench.

Game Review
The Owls jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the game. The Golden Bears took their first lead of the night (10-9) when senior guard Emily Farrell (New Fairfield, Conn.) made a layup from Orbann at the 4:52 mark in the first quarter.

The rest of the quarter was close as the Owls took a 22-21 lead at the 00:24 mark in the first quarter when Westfield State sophomore guard Siobhan Moriarty (Danvers, Mass.) made a 3-pointer to give them the lead going into the second quarter.

The Golden Bears outscored the Owls 28-11 in the second quarter, giving Western New England a 49-33 halftime lead. The final lead change of the game came at the 9:00 mark in the second quarter when Carlson put back a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound to give the Golden Bears a 25-23 lead.

With the score at 26-25, in favor to Western New England, the Golden Bears went on a 14-0 scoring run to push the lead to 40-25. Orbann's two free throws with 19 seconds left in the half to give the Golden Bears a 16-point lead at halftime.

Western New England shot 10-20 (50%) from the field during the quarter, led by Stefanelli's eight points on 3-3 shooting. Orbann led the Golden Bears on the glass, grabbing nine of her 17 rebounds during the second quarter.

The Owls used a strong third quarter, outscoring the Golden Bears 24-14, to cut the deficit to six (63-57 Western New England lead). Moussette led the offense for Westfield State, scoring eight of her 13 points in the third quarter.

The Golden Bears came out strong in the fourth quarter. A Carlson layup at the 7:26 mark completed an 8-0 run to begin the quarter to give Western New England a 14-point lead (71-57).

Western New England would go on to outscore Westfield State 23-11 in the fourth quarter to give the Golden Bears the victory by a score of 86-68.

Notes
• Western New England had three players get career-highs; Carlson (24 points), Orbann (17 rebounds), and Stefanelli (14 rebounds)

• Five players scored in double figures for the Golden Bears.

Up Next
Western New England (8-2) will continue non-conference action on the road at Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday afternoon. Westfield State (3-8) will return home against WPI on Saturday afternoon.