Pride Clinches Championship Berth with Victory over Wheelock

WESTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) women's basketball team will get a chance to win its fifth consecutive New England Collegiate Conference title after the Pride best the visiting Wheelock Wildcats in the conference semifinals by a score of 66-45 Thursday night at Higgins Court.

The Pride (21-6) will face #2 Elms in the NECC Championship on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., after the Blazers came back from down 13 to defeat #3 Becker 63-61 in the other semifinal Thursday.

The Pride was led by junior forward Brittany Stone (West Bridgewater, Mass.), who went off for a game-high 25 points in the victory on 12-for-14 (86%) shooting. With 18 of her points coming in the first half, the Pride was able to take a 37-19 lead into the locker room. The team looked like it was well on its way to a championship berth, but the Wildcats refused to go down without a fight.

Wheelock rallied off the first eight points of the second half to cut the lead to 37-27 just under three minutes into the third quarter thanks to threes from seniors Emily Doyle (Lynn, Mass.) and Jaime Grzych (Columbia, Conn.). A layup from Stone ended the run, but the Wildcats responded with its third consecutive three, this one from senior Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Mass.), cutting the Pride lead to nine, but the visitors would get no closer.

The Pride answered Woods' three with a 9-0 run of their own, thanks to a pair of buckets each from senior Mikayla Murphy (Attleboro, Mass.) and junior Linsay Bumila (Raynham, Mass.) to extend the lead to 18 points. By the end of the third quarter, the Pride held a 50-33 edge over the Wildcats, and would go on to outscore Wheelock 16-12 in the fourth to secure the victory.

Wheelock sophomore forward Katie Walsh (East Islip, N.Y.) registered the game's lone double-double on the evening, finishing with 10 points and a game-high 11 boards. Senior Brianna Hochwarter (Attleboro, Mass.) scored a team-high 11 points for the Wildcats coming off the bench.

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