Women's Basketball Downs Southern Maine at Coastal Classic, 67-54

BRUNSWICK, Maine – Junior forward Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team to a 67-54 victory over the University of Southern Maine on Saturday afternoon at the Coastal Classic hosted by Bowdoin College.

The Bears, who went 1-1 at the classic, improve to 1-2 on the young season while the Huskies fall to 1-3.

Grassi, who earned all-classic honors, connected on 8 of 17 field goals, including 2-for-5 from the behind the arc, and went 3-for-4 at the free throw line. She also added four rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Senior guard Caroline Tripp (Plymouth, Mass.) checked in with ten points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Bears while junior forward Arielle Cleveland (Groveland, Mass,) added eight points and a team-best ten rebounds (three offensive). Junior forward Jordan Peebles (Middleboro, Mass.) contributed 11 points and seven boards (four offensive) in 25 minutes off the bench.

With the game tied 27-27 at the break, Bridgewater opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run to take a nine-point lead (38-29). Grassi scored six points during the spurt which was ignited by a Bradbury three-pointer. The Bears maintained the lead the rest of the way getting up by as many as 13 points including the final score of 67-54.

Senior guard Tara Flanders (Windham, Maine) posted double-double totals of 11 points and 14 rebounds (seven offensive) to lead the way for Southern Maine. Senior guard Franny Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) added 13 points and four boars for the Huskies who struggled mightily with their shooting. Nine of Ramsdell's 13 points came at the free throw line.

Southern Maine shot just 20.3% (13-64) for the game including 5-for-26 (19.2%) from three-point range. The Huskies did, however, connected on 23 of 29 (79.3%) free throw attempts.

Bridgewater finished with shooting percentages of 39.7% (27-68) from the floor, 26.7% (4-15) from behind the arc and 64.3% (9-14) at the charity stripe.

The Bears held a 40-14 advantage in points in the paint.

The Bears are back in action on Tuesday evening when they travel to Rhode Island College to take on the #5 ranked Anchorwomen at 5:30.