Women's Basketball Downs Wheaton, 67-54, in Casey's 700th Game

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's basketball team concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule with a victory on Monday night.

Senior Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) scored 24 points and senior Jessica D'Amours (Feeding Hills, Mass.) grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds as the Bears defeated Wheaton College, 67-54, at the Tinsley Center.

The game was the 700th on the BSU bench for coach Bridgett Casey, who picked up her 400th victory on Saturday afternoon at Framingham State University.

Prior to the victory, Casey was presented a commemorative basketball at center court by Erika Adams, BSU's athletics operation manager and head women's lacrosse coach.

The Bears limited the Lyons to nine points in the second quarter and seven points in the third quarter to improve to 9-6 while dropping Wheaton to 4-10.

After losing five consecutive games following a 7-1 start, BSU won back-to-back games in a three-day span.

"To get back on track is definitely nice," said Casey, who is 401-299 with the Bears. "We played some good teams the last two games. Super proud of them bouncing back after after those losses in a row."

Grassi made 7 of 14 shots, grabbed eight rebounds and added three assists and two steals to lead BSU. She also went 9-for-12 at the free throw line.

Graduate student Kylee Piche (Bridgewater, Mass.) was also in double figures with 15 points and had six steals, six assists and five rebounds.

D'Amours had her 14 rebounds in 31 minutes to go with five blocked shots, four steals and three assists while scoring six points.

"Just a monster game tonight for her," said Casey. "Just active on all cylinders. She put a nice, solid game together."

Wheaton was led by juniors Madeline Duwe (Greenville, S.C.), who had 12 points off the bench, and Regan Keyter (Highland Ranch, Col.), who added 11 points and nine rebounds.

BSU was behind, 21-19, after one quarter and the game was even at 30-30 midway through with Grassi scoring half of the Bears' points in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, BSU turned up the defense, and the press bothered the Lyons, who had 27 turnovers.

"Our defense was at times really, really solid tonight," said Casey. "When it counted, our defense held. Out of the last five or six games, this is the best the press has worked."

Wheaton pulled within 37-35 with 5:58 left in the third quarter on a jumper by junior Nasha Arnold (North Reading, Mass.), but BSU ended the quarter on a 10-2 run for a 47-37 lead.

After the Arnold basket, the Lyons managed just a layup by junior Kiki Walters (Fleetwood, Pa.) with 3:07 remaining as they went 1-for-9 and had three turnovers in the final 5:50.

Piche had four of the BSU points in that run and junior Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, N.Y.) added a 3-pointer.

Wheaton got as close as seven (49-42) in the fourth quarter, but the Lyons went 5-for-14 in the last 10 minutes and were 8-for-32 in the second half against the Bears' defense.

BSU moved in front, 52-42, on a 3-pointer by sophomore Sophie Bradbury (East Bridgewater, Mass.) with 8:27 to go, and a layup by Burchhardt with 5:20 remaining made it 61-46, the largest lead of the night.

The Bears struggled with turnovers as they had 25, leading to 25 Wheaton points.

"We didn't help ourselves by turning the ball over 25 times," said Casey. "We've got to do better. We've got to have our offensive sets and what we want to do, but if it's not there, pull it out, rerun it, call something different.

"I've got to do a better job helping them through those times. It was like a hot potato, unforced turnovers."

In the opening minute of the game, Wheaton senior guard Abby Fernandes (Assonet, Mass.) reached the 1,000-point mark with an uncontested layup.

Fernandes suffered a season-ending injury recently and needed just one point for 1,000 in her career. In a pregame agreement, the Bears and Lyons exchanged uncontested baskets in the first minute to allow Fernandes to reach the milestone.

After Grassi scored five seconds in, Fernandes scored 11 seconds later and immediately came out of the game.

BSU resumes the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference scheduled Saturday, hosting Worcester State at 2 p.m. on Alumni Day.

Wheaton will host the Coast Guard Academy on Saturday afternoon.